Deja Kelly fouls out against Florida State, extinguishing chance at late UNC comeback

With five minutes left, and only six points away from tying with No. 21 Florida State, UNC senior guard Deja Kelly and junior center Maria Gakdeng both jumped for the loose rebound, colliding with FSU’s Sakyia White. 

The whistle blew. Foul on Kelly. Her fifth and final of the night.

“I would say the refs were garbage today,” Kelly said. “Those early calls were some BS and so were the late ones.”

North Carolina’s leading scorer took her spot on the bench, and the late-game push for a comeback the Tar Heels were hoping to complete went along with her. Unable to continue its momentum, No. 20 UNC ultimately fell 70-62 on Thursday to FSU. Prior to fouling out, the senior guard delivered a 23-point performance, helping the Tar Heels outscore the Seminoles 36-29 in the second half. 

Kelly rarely fouls out. The last time she did so was against No. 1 South Carolina in November. Before that? Jan. 1, 2023, against Virginia Tech.

Hope wasn’t lost immediately. North Carolina cut the deficit to three — a stark contrast from its previous 21-point hole — with less than two minutes to go.

But as FSU’s offense found its groove around the rim, UNC committed costly mistakes. First, sophomore guard Paulina Paris stepped out of bounds on the baseline. Then, Seminole forward Makayla Timpson’s fadeaway over the outstretched arms of Indya Nivar and Anya Poole swished into the basket, and the game was sealed in Florida State’s favor by the corresponding and-1.

Turnovers and scoring troubles also plagued North Carolina in the first half. While FSU’s Sara Bejedi got hot from beyond the arc, the Seminoles were also able to capitalize on UNC’s mishaps, scoring 13 points off nine turnovers.

“We weren’t pushing pace like we normally do and how we want to,” Kelly said. “We want to get a lot of points in transition, and they were hitting shots offensively. I think that also slowed down our transition game a little bit.”

By halftime, the Tar Heels staggered behind the Seminoles, 41-26. However, an effective third quarter run put the Tar Heels back into the game, mostly led by Kelly and Poole. 

The remedy to their offensive troubles? Kelly said the team started to get open looks in transition and attack the paint. 

“There were a lot of things that we didn’t do in the first half that we kinda talked about during halftime,” Poole said. “We were like, ‘OK, let’s go back to the team we were before this game started. Attack them, attack them, attack them. Same way that we had to defend them, they had to defend us.’”

Shooting 45 percent from the field and scoring in double digits on Thursday, Kelly ended a brief slump that had her shooting a combined 6-29 from the field since the Syracuse game last week.

Even with early foul trouble weighing over her, Kelly relied on her mid-range jumper for quick baskets and aggressively drove to the rim for lay-ups to chip away at the deficit.

Meanwhile, Poole fought for back-to-back offensive rebounds and second-chance baskets to close out the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 11 points. 

But even with the loss, head coach Courtney Banghart is hopeful. 

“There’s a whole lot of ACC season left, and we don’t want to have to learn lessons twice,” Banghart said. “This lesson was that you made other guys beat you in the first half, they did and that kind of stunned you as opposed to moving through it.” 

@carolinewills03

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