Tag: UNC Women’s Basketball

The North Carolina women’s basketball team moves to 4-0 on the season

The North Carolina women’s basketball team moves to 4-0 on the season after beating James Madison 77-65 on Sunday afternoon.

The North Carolina women’s basketball program has been rolling to start the season, and the wheels kept moving in the 76-65 victory over James Madison.

UNC has earned massive victories in their first three games of the season, but this game was a battle from the beginning. Deja Kelly started things for North Carolina with a bucket off an assist from Alyssa Ustby. James Madison answered back with a 5-0 run, and then from there, it was a back-and-forth affair.

Both teams matched defensive intensity, and the first quarter reflected that, with the period ending tied at 19 a piece.

In five minutes of action, the second quarter continued the defensive showdown, with both teams mustering up only four points each. James Madison would end up winning the second quarter battle, as they outscored the Heels 15-11 in the period.

The third quarter was all UNC, as they kept up the defensive pressure while finally finding the shots that had been successful for them during their unbeaten start. Kelly displayed one of her best quarters of the season, scoring seven of her 22 points in the third. North Carolina outscored James Madison, 20 to 13, in quarter three and retook the lead 50 to 47.

The fourth quarter was all UNC. Lockdown defense and ball movement ended any chance James Madison had at their attempted comeback. The Heels won the fourth quarter 26-18 to win the game 76-65 and advance to 4-0 on the season. Kelly led UNC in scoring with 22 points, with senior guard Eva Hodgson contributing 18 points of her own.

UNC will be back in action on Thanksgiving as they travel to Portland to take on No. 21-ranked Oregon.

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Deja Kelly named to Wooden Award preseason watch list

North Carolina women’s basketball guard Deja Kelly adds another award to her watch list as UNC hopes to compete for a National title.

The North Carolina women’s basketball season is already off to a strong start, and it just got much sweeter for junior guard [autotag]Deja Kelly[/autotag] as it was announced she was named to the Wooden Award preseason watch list.

Kelly is a focal point of North Carolina’s offense and pivotal to the national championship puzzle they are looking to create. The Wooden Award is a prestigious honor given to the male and female players of the year. The most recent winners are Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe and South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston.

This is one of many awards Kelly has been watched for. She is on the watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award and the Naismith Trophy. Kelly is averaging 9.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists.

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UNC basketball vs. SC State: Game preview, info, prediction and more

We look at what you need to know for the UNC women’s basketball program’s matchup against SC State this Wednesday.

The North Carolina women’s basketball team will finish their three-game home stand against South Carolina State on Wednesday at 11 A.M. Eastern.

UNC has gotten off to a great start, showing complete domination in both games. They opened the season with an impressive 91-59 win over Jackson State, then three days later dominated TCU 75-48.

Their cohesive ball movement has been working for the program, with their team chemistry being the focal point of the success. In their win over TCU, each player in a Carolina uniform scored and five finished with double digits.

As it stands, UNC is ranked 13th in the Associated Press Top 25 polls, but if they can keep up their play, cracking the top 10 won’t take long.

UNC Women’s basketball makes final list for five-star recruit

Courtney Banghart and the UNC Women’s basketball program made the final four list for this five-star recruit on Sunday.

Courtney Banghart and the UNC women’s basketball program are looking to build on an impressive 2021-22 season. The Tar Heels reached the Sweet 16 before falling to South Carolina and while it was successful year, they have their eyes on more.

The head coach is hoping to build the program for future success as well, and on Sunday she received some good news.

UNC made the final four list for five-star prospect Aalyah Del Rosario on Sunday, taking a big step forward in the recruitment. The Tar Heels were joined by Tennessee, LSU, and South Carolina:

The 6-foot-5, Del Rosario is a Nashville native that plays her high school ball at The Webb School. She earned a grade of 97 and a five-star ranking by ESPN, as she’s one of the top players in the country.

Banghart’s 2023 class already has two top 15 recruits in it and adding another would be huge for the Tar Heels.

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UNC’s Alyssa Ustby named to USA basketball 3×3 roster

UNC basketball froward Alyssa Ustby was named to the USA basketball 3×3 roster set to compete in the Dominican Republic later this month.

Current UNC basketball forward [autotag]Alyssa Ustby[/autotag] has been named to the 2022 USA women’s basketball 3×3 U23 team. She will make her debut later this month when the competition takes place in the Dominican Republic from Aug. 13-19.

Aaliyah Moore (Texas), Maddy Siegrist (Villanova), Celeste Taylor (Duke), Kayla Wells (Texas A&M) and Maddy Westbeld (Notre Dame) join Ustby on the roster.

Ustby was one of 11 players who appeared at the USA Basketball tryouts. Before heading off to the Dominican Republic, she’ll take part in training camp Aug. 9-11.

Ustby averaged 12.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore last season. She started all 32 games for the Tar Heels and earned All-ACC Second Team honors.

The FIBA 3×3 Nations League is a 3×3 competition that began in 2017. UNC head coach Courtney Banghart spoke on the honor that Ustby will have.

“Alyssa earned the opportunity to try out for this team and played her way onto the roster with the relentlessness and versatility that we have come to trust in her game,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “We are so enormously proud that she’ll be representing the Carolina blue while wearing the red, white, and blue as she goes for gold.”

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UNC WBB non-conference games announced

The UNC WBB team non conference schedule has been released with some big names on the horizon in hopes on brining back the NCAA title to North Carolina

The time is almost here for the [autotag]UNC women’s basketball[/autotag] program to take the court, but before they do, more games have been released.

The out-of-conference games have been announced with UNC playing a total of 11 non-ACC teams, hosting five of them. They open up the season against the defending SWAC champions Jackson State in Carmichael Arena on November 9th.

The path gets more trenching, taking on TCU on the 12th, South Carolina State on the 16th, and James Madison on the 20th before competing in the highly anticipated Phil Knight Invitational. The Heels are set to take on Oregon and then either Iowa State or Michigan State over Thanksgiving break.

After the Phil Knight tournament, UNC is on its way to the ACC/BigTen challenge play, set on December 1st when they travel to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Hoosiers. The next three out-of-conference games are a bit more relaxed taking on UNCW on the 7th, Wofford on the 11th, and North Carolina A&T on the 16th. Lastly, UNC will have their final out-of-conference match-up battling against Michigan on the 20th of December in the Jumpman Invitational.

Last season the team went 25-7, falling just short to the eventual NCAA Champions South Carolina Gamecocks. A few adjustments and this could be a season that ends with the UNC women’s basketball bringing the title back to Carolina for the first time since 1994.

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Deja Kelly gifts teammates and coaches with NIL deal

UNC Basketball’s Deja Kelly uses Beats by Dre NIL deal and shares with her teammates and coaches.

As one of the most popular hoopers in college basketball, [autotag]Deja Kelly[/autotag] has racked up plenty of NIL deals and has recently spread that love to her team.

Coach Courtney Banghart took to Instagram and posted a message, thanking  Kelly for gifting the team their own Beats headphones.

It was announced that Kelly inked the deal with headphone empire, Beats by Dre, back in March, adding to her impressive list of NIL endorsements. Last season, the sophomore helped lead the UNC women’s basketball team to the Sweet 16, where they fell just short, 61-69 to the eventual national champions, South Carolina.

Kelly broke out as a star for the Tar Heels as Banghart has really turned this program around and now expectations are high going into the coming season.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce4sRzYNLNU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

Last season, Kelly averaged 16.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game. Her best game of the season came against Clemson, where Kelly dropped 31 points, going 5 for 11 from three.

Going into next season, UNC is expected to tack on more success using the momentum from last season. Kelly is anticipated to have another break-out year. And if that happens, the Tar Heels should find themselves threatening to get past the Sweet 16.

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UNC Women’s basketball adds Jessika Carrington to staff

The UNC women’s basketball program has added to its staff, announcing the hire of Jessika Carrington.

Courtney Banghart and the UNC Women’s basketball program have added to their staff this offseason.

On Tuesday, the program announced that [autotag]Jessika Carrington[/autotag] has been hired as Assistant to the Athletic Director/Director of Operations. She joins the program after spending the past nine years working with the Pac-12 conference for women’s basketball.

After graduating from Oklahoma, Carrington worked with the women’s basketball program there for a few years including being a team manager for four years. She then went over to the Pac-12 spending four years as administrative assistant to the USC head coach. Carrington has held the role of Director of Basketball Operations at Arizona since 2017.

Banghart released this statement to announce the hiring, praising Carrington and what she can bring to the program here in Chapel Hill:

“As I conducted our national search, I was overwhelmed by the respect Jessika has earned from so many people in this business,” Banghart said. “She is a welcoming smile, a committed worker, and a proven teammate. She builds relationships that last and her values are perfectly aligned with our collective commitment to servant leadership. We look forward to sharing Jessika with the Carolina Family.”

After making a Sweet 16 run this past season, expectations are high for the program going into this season. And it should be another fun one in Chapel Hill for Banghart and her team.

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ESPN thinks highly of the UNC women’s basketball team going into next season

ESPN thinks highly of the UNC basketball women’s program going into next season in their way too early rankings.

Courtney Banghart has really turned around the UNC women’s basketball program since she arrived on campus a few years ago in Chapel Hill. And the Tar Heels are coming off one of their best seasons since 2015 as they made a run to the Sweet 16.

Now, going into next season ESPN thinks highly of the Tar Heels’ chances as evident in their updated way-too-early top 25 rankings. The Tar Heels checked in at No. 10 in Charlie Creme’s rankings.

Here is what Creme said about UNC going into next year as they are entering a big year with a lot of top talent returning for the program:

With the NCAA’s decision not to grant former and current Ivy League players the year they lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, former Princeton star and last year’s UNC point guard Carlie Littlefield will not be back. North Carolina could still exceed last season’s 25-win total. Deja Kelly, Kennedy Todd-Williams and Alyssa Ustby will form the club’s backbone and Kelly will be a candidate for ACC Player of the Year. Paulina Paris, a top 30 recruit, could be a possible replacement for Littlefield.

That’s a reasonable ranking for a team that made it to the Sweet 16 before losing to the eventual champion. They do return Deja Jelly, Alyssa Ustby, and Kennedy Todd-Williams while also welcoming in a good recruiting class.

It’s safe to say that Banghart has this team going in the right direction.

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Morasha Wiggins leaves UNC, enters transfer portal

UNC Womens’ Morasha Wiggins has entered her name in the transfer portal. The 18th ranked Guard of 2021 should have plenty of suitors .

After one season at North Carolina,  Morasha Wiggins has decided it’s time to move on and is in the transfer portal.

The Michigan native from Kalamazoo Central High School was one of UNC’s top recruits, ranking 18th in the ESPNW 2021 class. Wiggins also received multiple honors as a top recruit, including Michigan’s AP All-State Division 1 co-player of the year. That year she averaged 24.3 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

In her freshman season with the Tar Heels, she didn’t see much action averaging 8.6 minutes per game and was down in the rotation a bit.

Wiggins did have a break-out game of the season where she dropped 10 points, four rebounds, and a steal in just 14 minutes of play against Appalachian St.

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