UNC women's basketball defeats Duke, 63-59, on Senior Day

The North Carolina women’s basketball team (18-11, 10-7 ACC) outlasted the Duke Blue Devils (19-9, 11-6 ACC), 63-59, on Sunday afternoon at Carmichael Arena. 

Led by a game-high 18-point performance and a 12-point fourth-quarter surge from senior guard Deja Kelly, North Carolina ended its regular season with a win after losing to the Blue Devils last month. 

“All we’ve been saying today is like revenge, revenge, revenge, revenge,” senior forward Alyssa Ustby said. “We’re going to get this one back.”

In the first quarter, the Tar Heels found success even while being pushed late into the shot clock by the Blue Devils. To take a 10-point lead, North Carolina continued to attack the basket spearheaded by the efforts of senior forward Alyssa Ustby. 

Paired with Ustby and the Tar Heels’ lockdown defense, they held the Blue Devils to a 3-15 shooting performance in the first quarter. 

After taking a 15-point lead, Duke’s Emma Koabel ignited from behind the arc scoring two triples on back-to-back possessions. Unable to find success on the offensive end, the Blue Devils cut UNC’s lead to six points. 

As North Carolina fell flat, the Blue Devils continued to inch closer to the Tar Heels. After a mid-range jumper from Duke’s Kennedy Brown to cap off a 7-0 run and take the lead, UNC was forced to a timeout.

Following an offensive foul call on junior center Maria Gakdeng, the Tar Heels’ hopes of retaking the lead were extinguished pushing Duke to a 31-30 lead at halftime. 

Throughout the first five minutes of the third quarter, the two teams remained neck-and-neck with three different lead changes. As the quarter progressed, the rivals continued to trade possessions with both UNC and Duke struggling to pull away. Going into the fourth quarter, the score sat tied at 46-46. 

Only a minute into the fourth quarter, senior forward Alexandra Zelaya hit a 3-pointer. While holding Duke scoreless through the first four minutes of play, Kelly followed suit. To extend the Tar Heels' lead to seven, Kelly hit a jumper and drew an and-1 a few possessions later.

“For the most part, I thought we did a really good job knowing their personnel and acting on that in live play,” graduate guard Lexi Donarski said.

Even with the lead, the Blue Devils made it a one-possession game after a 3-pointer and a jumper. With less than a minute remaining, Kelly hit a mid-range shot to push the Tar Heels to a four-point lead. 

After Duke’s Ashlon Jackson made three free throws after being fouled from behind the arc with 15 seconds remaining, North Carolina managed to hold on after Kelly sunk two free throws of her own. 

“[This] is a really resilient group that whoever is in front of them they go all out,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. 

This concludes the Tar Heels’ regular season. They will compete in the ACC Tournament this week beginning on March 6. 

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