How UNC women’s basketball held off Florida State to reach ACC Tournament semifinals
North Carolina women’s basketball had yet to make the ACC Tournament semifinals under head coach Courtney Banghart, and hadn’t been there at all in more than a decade.
All of that changed Friday, after the fifth-seeded Tar Heels held off fourth-seeded Florida State, 60-56, in a quarterfinal matchup in Greensboro.
UNC (27-6), which at No. 14 is ranked higher than No. 22 Florida State (23-8) in the most recent AP Top 25 poll, beat FSU for the first time since 2022 after overcoming a rough second-quarter performance and a historic performance from Makayla Timpson.
And the Heels did it with defense: North Carolina held the Seminoles to their lowest point total of the season.
The Tar Heels face the winner of No. 1 N.C. State/No. 9 Georgia Tech on Saturday at noon.
“Our defensive effort really came from our preparation and our individual buy-in,” Banghart said after the win. “I felt like we were always on the same page defensively, and when our five are feeling like that, we are really a hard team to score on.
“We also carry a lot of pride with our defense. We don’t take it lightly when somebody scores on us. We’re frustrated. We’re going to figure out why they scored on us and we’re going to fix it the next time down. That’s just how competitive this group is.”
Reniya Kelly returned to the UNC lineup against the Seminoles, her first appearance since the Tar Heels’ win at Louisville. Kelly was streaky in her return, but made plays when it mattered.
Her biggest shots came in the final 1:04, when Kelly scored back-to-back jumpers to snap a 54-54 tie and give the Tar Heels a four-point lead.
“To have her back today, in a game that close, she’s clutch,” said Lanie Grant. “I know she’s gonna make a play, either for me or for one of our teammates. Having a point guard that can control the tempo, while also being able to score and defend, it’s really hard to find.”
Earlier in the game, Kelly stripped Timpson of the ball and hit a long 2 in the third quarter after a turnover.
Kelly missed the past three games due to an undisclosed lower leg injury. She was prepared to play in UNC’s game against Boston College on Thursday, but the team pulled off the win without her.
“Soon. She warmed up. Yeah, soon,” Courtney Banghart said Thursday after being asked when Kelly would return. “This team has done so much. This tournament means a lot to us but so does the NCAA Tournament. Doing the best we can to make sure that we’re healthiest when we can be. Obviously the fact that she’s warming up, I think she’s waiting for her name to be called. But soon. We’re going to take it day-by-day.”
Kelly averages 10.1 points and 2.3 assists per game. She had 16 points, six rebounds and three assists in the first meeting. The sophomore finished with 11 points.
Grant added a pair of free throws with 7.3 seconds to go, giving the Tar Heels a four-point lead.
Timpson led the Seminoles in scoring with 15 points, eight rebounds and tied her career high with eight blocks. Timpson’s blocks also tied an ACC Tournament record.
“Florida State did a really good job in the second quarter of busting up our offensive actions, so we went into halftime and we adjusted a bit,” Grant said. “The coaches gave us some new play calls, new actions to try to get Florida State’s bigs out of the paint so that the guards could attack.”
Early lead disappears
North Carolina jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter and held an 11-point advantage with less than a minute left. The Tar Heels had a 10-2 advantage in the paint at the end of the period and held Florida State’s big three to 1 of 9 shooting.
Momentum swung drastically in the second quarter thanks to Florida State’s defense. The Seminoles held the Tar Heels to an 0-of-14 start and outscored North Carolina, 19-5, to take a four-point lead into the half. It was the lowest-scoring quarter of the season for Carolina.
Timpson anchored the FSU defense, recording three second-quarter blocks and pulling down two defensive rebounds. Timpson also led the Seminoles’ second-quarter scoring with seven points, and O’Mariah Gordon went 2 of 2 for five.
As a team, Florida State finished with seven blocks in the half and finished with 13. It averages 5.6 blocks per game, which ranks No. 10 in the country. The aggressive post play limited the Heels to four paint points.
The Tar Heels’ rebounding effort kept them in the game. Carolina out-rebounded the Seminoles, 53-40, including 17 offensive boards. The Heels scored 21 second-chance points, while holding the Seminoles to two points on put-backs.
Alyssa Ustby and Lexi Donarski said after its win over Boston College they wanted the rematch. Ta’Niya Latson scored a layup buzzer beater to defeat Carolina in Chapel Hill earlier this season.
“We’ve continued to get better throughout the course of this season, so I feel like we’re not the same team that we were back then,” Donarski said. “We know what changes we need to make, looking back at that game. I feel like we’re going to come ready and we’re going to make the changes that we need to make.”
The Heels proved themselves and likely secured a top 16 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Ustby, in her second game back from her injury, flirted with a triple double. The graduate student contributed 12 points, tied her career high with 18 rebounds and added five assists. Maria Gakdeng also contributed 16 rebounds in the win.
“It sat in our stomachs for a little bit.,” Gakdeng said of the first meeting. “It hurt, especially like Latson’s buzzer beater, seeing them run around our gym. It was disrespectful. I think we took that and we remembered that — especially late in the game, when the game was tied up — and we didn’t want that to happen again. We got out there and we just finished the game off.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2025 at 1:17 PM.
