UNC Women’s Basketball Snaps No. 9 NC State’s Unbeaten Streak Again
CHAPEL Hill, N.C. – The No. 9 N.C. State Wolfpack started red-hot against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Carmichael Arena last night, Jan. 09. They led UNC 38-28 at halftime and shot 53.6 percent from the field and drained eight three-pointers.
“(N.C. State) shot the crude out of it – is a nice way to say it – in the first half from three,” said UNC first-year head coach Courtney Banghart.
But N.C. State went cold late, and he Tar Heel veterans rallied their team to upset the Wolfpack 60-66 and snap their unbeaten streak in consecutive years.
“You gotta give credit to North Carolina,” said Wolfpack head coach Wes Moore. “Carolina did a great job of attacking – taking it to us. The second half, we struggled to hit some shots. I felt like we probably needed to maybe try and attack a little more than we did, maybe get the ball inside, maybe get to the rim. … Tough game, life on the road.”
The matchup to watch coming into the game was UNC’s Janelle Bailey vs. N.C. State’s Elissa Cunane. Both shot below 30 percent from the floor, but Bailey edged out Cunane on the defensive side of the ball in the second half to allow UNC’s guards to play tight on N.C. State’s shooters.
“I was very excited: I didn’t really have a choice,” Bailey said, ” … Defense wins championships, so that’s a part I knew I had to buckle down on. And this game can be a deciding factor later on in the season, so that’s how much it mattered to me.”
UNC senior guards Shayla Bennett and Taylor Koenen led the Tar Heels in scoring with 20 and 14 points, and Koenen grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double. Wolfpack senior guard Aislinn Konig finished as the game’s leading scorer with 24 points.
What’s Next
UNC goes on the road to play the No. 11 Florida State Seminoles (14-2, 3-2 ACC). The Seminoles lost 67-52 last night to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (12-3, 3-1 ACC).
NC State travels to South Bend, Ind., to play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-10, 1-3 ACC) Sunday, Jan. 12, at 4 p.m. They return to Reynolds Coliseum Thursday, Jan. 16, to face Florida State.
“I want all of us to look in the mirror: including the coach,” More said, “and see if there’s something I can do, they can to do a better job, but then tomorrow we gotta move on. This league is like being out in the ocean; here comes another wave, you don’t really have time to catch your breath, so you better be ready for the next one.
Feature image courtesy of Landon Bost