UNC women return to NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 with gritty win over Maryland

The calendar listed this as a second-round NCAA Tournament women’s basketball game, Sunday, March 22, 2026, at Carmichael Arena.

History said otherwise.

This was an old-fashioned ACC-backyard brawl, and North Carolina (28-7) emerged with 74-66 victory over Maryland (24-9), an old friend until it left for the Big Ten in the 2014-15 sports season

North Carolina sophomore guard Elina Aarnisalo, a UCLA transfer by way of Helsinki, Finland, played as if she grew up on Tobacco Road. UNC coach Courtney Banghart had been urging Aarnisalo to play a meaner game, and the 5-10 sophomore was ferocious driving to the basket. She finished with a team-high 21 points on 8-of-14 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws. Her buckets were all drives other than one 3-pointer.

“We were playing to win,” said Aarnisalo, responding to the question with a sheepish smile. “We didn’t want to go home. Yeah, I had to be mean.”

Running mate Lanie Grant, who added 20 points, buried her face in her arms as Aarnisalo spoke about being “tough.”

“E is one of the most competitive kids I’ve known,” Grant said. “She might not show outward emotion, but when she does, she’s a dawg.”

UNC advanced to the Sweet 16 to play the winner of Monday’s game matching No. 9 Syracuse at Connecticut, the No. 1 overall seed. North Carolina continues regional play in Fort Worth.

Aarnisalo’s total matched Maryland’s Oluchi Okananwa, an All-Big Ten first-team player who recovered from eight points in the first half to finish with 21. A year ago, Okananwa, while playing for Duke, knocked North Carolina out of the NCAA Tournament in a Sweet 16 game when she scored 12 points with 12 rebounds.

North Carolina’s Nyla Harris, a 6-2 senior, was a third Tar Heel in double figures with 14 points and eight rebounds.

With Aarnisalo and Grant setting the pace early going to the basket, Harris took advantage of her limited inside plays to score on offensive rebound baskets and passes inside.

“What do you say about these two?” said North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart, nodding to Aarnisalo and Grant seated next to her on the interview dais. “Complete warriors. We had to play a different way. We love to share the ball and space you and beat you on the inside with passes from the arc. I kept our players to win their matchup. They’re both so unselfish and looking for the next pass. I kept telling them to do the things that will help us win this basketball game.”

Banghart said she watched 16 Maryland games to feel confident the Terrapins would consistently play the type of defense that allowed the Tar Heels to exploit driving the ball.

This is North Carolina’s second straight Sweet 16 under Banghart, who is in her seventh year with the Tar Heels. It’s the first time the Tar Heels have made back-to-back Sweet 16 trips since 2014-15.

North Carolina led 22-17 after the first period with support from the bench. Freshman Nyla Brooks provided a spark just as she had coming off the bench in Friday’s win over Western Illinois. The 6-1 freshman from Waldorf, Maryland hit the first of her two 3-pointers.

North Carolina outscored Maryland 26-16 in the paint in the first half. The Tar Heels 17 of 30 shots (56.7 percent) with their focus on scoring inside, while Maryland was 1-of-6 on 3-pointers and shot only 34.3 percent from the field overall.

Aarnisalo, who scored her first five buckets on drives, hit her only 3-point basket with 30 seconds remaining for a 42-33 lead at halftime.

Maryland’s 8-4 run to open the third quarter could have hurt the Tar Heels more, but Okananwa, a 77-percent free throw shooter, missed three of four free throws. At that point, she was 3 of 10 for the game. She finished 3 of 11 and the Terrapins were 17 of 31.

Maryland’s third-quarter press began to disrupt North Carolina’s offense with Tar Heels senior Indya Nivar on the bench with four fouls. The Terrapins forced five turnovers and outscored UNC 17-8 in the period to force a 50-50 tie.

But Nivar, the Apex Friendship High alum playing her last game at Carmichael, returned in the fourth quarter to settle down the ballhandling and add to the defense. She converted a 3-point play with 8:43 left in the game for a 57-52 lead. Nivar finished with 11 points and six rebounds before she fouled out in the final seconds.

“I told her that was fitting,” Banghart said. “She left it all out on the floor in her final game at Carmichael.”

North Carolina stemmed another Maryland surge when Brooks hit her second 3-pointer of the game for a 68-62 lead with 1:41 to play. The promising 6-1 freshman from Waldorf, Maryland, finished with six points, eight rebounds and strong defense throughout the game.

The winning traditions of both programs were reflected in their overall series matchup dating to the ACC days prior to Maryland leaving for the Big Ten in 2014-15. North Carolina led the series, 39-37. The are about even in Sweet 16 trips — Maryland was playing for its 22nd and North Carolina its 21st.

The NCAA Tournament basketball environment in Chapel Hill this past weekend was the attraction that enabled Banghart to resist the heartstrings tugging at her to remain in Princeton.

She had won NCAA games at Princeton, but her teams hadn’t hosted or advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

“When I left Princeton, it was hard,” Banghart said. “It was where I met my family, I had my kids. We were rolling. It was a place that loved me. And you hope, when take over a new job, it’s going to be what you want.

“And the one thing I felt at Princeton is I’ never get a chance to host. And so, I wanted to do that. And so, to be able to do it two years in a row means more to me than I can articulate. I won tournament games Princeton. It wasn’t about that. It was about what can I do different? Can I host an NCAA tournament, get to a Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four?”

This story was originally published March 22, 2026 at 2:40 PM.