UNC Women’s Basketball’s Persistence and Consistency Pay Off Versus Miami
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Winning ugly says a lot about a team’s character. The Miami (FL) Hurricanes struck the North Carolina Tar Heels by draining 20 points within the first six minutes of the game and led UNC by eight points.
UNC never waded and fought back to trail Miami 38-37 at halftime.
“We remembered there four made threes,” said UNC head coach Courtney Banghart at halftime, “but that’s not what they do. Let’s go back to what we do, and that’s an adjustment we had to make.”
The Tar Heels shut the gate on the Hurricanes midway through the third quarter and went on a 25-4 run and led 78-54 with just over a minute left in the game.
UNC’s persistence and consistency paid off, and they defeated Miami 78-58 behind their three leaders.
“That was a game we really felt we needed for a lot of reasons,” Banghart said. “There’s was a stretch there were we played with really low energy. I give them a lot of credit, during the media time out in the third quarter, I bit into them a little bit and told them that, ‘Energy matters and how you rebound,’ and they responded really well. Huge lift off our bench from Leah (Church) and Kennady (Tucker) which is always great to see. And obviously these three, Shayla (Bennett) who’s not with us and (Janelle Bailey and Taylor Koenen) are what you expect from guys which this much experience.
With Miami’s senior star post player Beatrice Mompremier out with a foot injury, UNC junior center Janelle Bailey dominated the post and led the game in points, 28, and rebounds, 15, for another double-double.
“I had to do a self-check of myself,” Bailey said, “because I knew I could do better and that’s when I stepped up. And (Koenen) was like, ‘Come on! Me and you,” and right there, we went on a run. We need this game. This game is gonna matter later on in the season.”
UNC senior guard Taylor Koenen finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, assists. Senior guard Shayla Bennett finished with 10 points and seven assists after failing to convert a field goal in the first half.
“We just stayed together,” Koenen said. “We know that we can go on a run at any point as well. And in the ACC, people are gonna hit you and punch you. So if we can withstand that – which we have, and we’re known to do that– we weren’t really panicked. … We’ve developed that we are hard to score on when we do play defense, so we know that we have it in the back of our pocket.”
What’s Next
UNC host the fifth-ranked Louisville Cardinals at Carmichael Arena Sunday, Jan. 19, at 1 p.m. The last time a top-5 opponent came to Chapel Hill was Jan. 27, 2019, when UNC knocked off the No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 78-73.
(Feature image courtesy of Landon Bost)