No. 5 NC State women's basketball battles past No. 24 UNC in rowdy rivalry game
RALEIGH — In a packed house befitting a Top 25 Tobacco Road rivalry showdown, No. 5 NC State women's basketball defeated No. 24 North Carolina 63-59 on Thursday night in Reynolds Coliseum.
After UNC rallied behind Deja Kelly to take a three-point lead in the fourth quarter, NC State answered with a 9-0 run sparked by a pair of Aziaha James buckets along with Madison Hayes' triple and Mimi Collins' deep two. The Wolfpack (19-2, 7-2 ACC) wouldn't trail again.
The Tar Heels (15-7, 6-3) had their chances, including a steal by Alyssa Ustby with just 20 seconds remaining in the game and UNC trailing by three, but NC State's defense held as the Pack leapfrogged the Heels in the ACC standings to settle in at third behind Louisville and Virginia Tech.
Saniya Rivers and Collins finished with 14 points apiece to lead the Wolfpack. Rivers also added nine rebounds (2 offensive), four assists and two steals.
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Deja Kelly cuts loose
After a first half marked most noticeably by air-balling a deep shot early on and hearing about it from a sold-out Reynolds crowd from then on, Kelly caught fire after halftime. She followed a six-point first half with 15 points in the third quarter on 5-of-8 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers.
She was banged up after a hard foul from River Baldwin and went to the bench early in the fourth quarter but her surge allowed the Tar Heels to regain their lead.
Kelly finished with a game-high 21 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Mimi Collins key for Pack
NC State's leading scorer in ACC play, Collins led her squad with 12 points in the first half, including a last-second 3-pointer to put the Pack up 31-24, matching their largest lead of the half.
Complimenting River Baldwin's play in the post for NC State as the Tar Heels' Maria Gakdeng held her own with a pair of blocks to go with six rebounds and six points in the first half, Collins gave the Pack an efficient mid- and long-range scoring option. She made 5-of-7 from the field, a perfect 2-of-2 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.
Her game is hard-nosed, welcoming contact, strong enough to hold position and savvy enough to draw fouls.
Rivalry renewed
UNC coach Courtney Banghart is in her fifth season with the Tar Heels after Sylvia Hatchell led the team for more than three decades and won an NCAA championship in 1994.
Banghart has taken the Tar Heels to three straight NCAA tournaments with a Sweet 16 appearance in 2022, but her time in Chapel Hill has coincided with NC State's ascension to the top of the ACC with three straight tournament titles (2020-22) and the program's first Elite 8 since Kay Yow's team made the Final Four in 1998.
A two-time Ivy League champion as a guard at Dartmouth, Banghart was named 2015 Naismith National Coach of the Year in 2015 as she led Princeton to the first NCAA tournament win in program history. She has this edition of UNC women's basketball in the thick of the ACC race — a league that sent eight teams to the NCAA tournament last year. But her comments on Reynolds Coliseum being a "small gym" and NC State fans acting "classless" sparked ire among the Wolfpack faithful, fueling the historic rivalry and adding a new layer to an already deep well of animosity.
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NC State mascots Mr. and Mrs. Wuf greeted UNC players and staff at their home court Thursday with signs reading, "Welcome to our small gym."
Up next
No. 5 NC State hosts No. 12 Louisville on Monday (7 p.m., ESPN2) and No. 24 UNC hosts No. 18 Virginia Tech on Sunday (noon, ESPN2).
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: NC State women's basketball beats UNC
