Alyssa Utsby and North Carolina beat West Virginia 58-47 to set up Sweet 16 meeting with Duke
Alyssa Utsby and North Carolina beat West Virginia 58-47 to set up Sweet 16 meeting with Duke
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Alyssa Ustby scored 16 of her 21 points after halftime to help North Carolina beat West Virginia 58-47 on Monday night in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
The fifth-year senior’s big night included 10 third-quarter points for the third-seeded Tar Heels (29-7), who reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022. North Carolina will face Duke in a regional semifinal in Birmingham, Alabama — the first meeting between the rivals in the women’s March Madness bracket.
Lexi Donarski and Reniya Kelly each scored 11 points for UNC, which shot just 37.9% but locked down defensively while scoring 23 points off turnovers in the Tar Heels’ first hosting opportunity since 2015.
“Man, I just am overfilled with pride for this group,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. You think about what Carmichael (Arena) looked like tonight and how many people have wrapped their arms around this team and willed us to wherever we need to be. … Our kids earned it, and (fans) showed up for us.”
Jordan Harrison scored 10 points to lead the sixth-seeded Mountaineers (25-8), who fell short in their latest attempt to make the Sweet 16 for the first time since the tournament’s expansion to 64 teams in 1994.
West Virginia shot just 24.1% for the game, including 1 for 14 in the final quarter.
“They scored 58 points. I don’t think it was our defense,” Mountaineers coach Mark Kellogg said. “It was our offense. … It’s going to be hard to win when you score 47 points. We can win games holding teams to 58. So I thought our effort on the defensive end was really good, I thought we competed.
“I thought we held them down long enough to see if we could make a run. We never made any runs.”
That ultimately ended West Virginia’s chance to push back as the Tar Heels started to stretch out a lead to end the third quarter, beginning with a 9-0 run.
Kelly struck with a tying jumper near the right elbow, followed by Indya Nivar pushing a rebound in transition to set up Donarski for a right-wing 3 on the catch that put UNC ahead for good.
Ustby followed by driving on sagging defender Jordan Thomas for a reverse layup, then got to the line for two free throws that capped the run and pushed UNC to a 42-35 lead with 1:38 left in the third.
West Virginia never got closer than five again, with none of its shots finding the net as the game hung in the balance and Ustby staying on the attack — at one point drawing three fouls on one possession early in the fourth.
West Virginia missed its first 11 shots of the fourth quarter before Sydney Shaw hit a 3-pointer with 37.8 seconds left.
Takeaways
West Virginia: The Mountaineers are in March Madness for the 13th time in 18 tournaments and beat 11th-seeded Columbia in Saturday’s opener. And this was the 11th time in that span that they had reached the second round, only to go no further.
UNC: The Tar Heels took over in the third quarter behind Donarski to beat 14th-seeded Oregon State in Round 1. This time, it was Ustby turning in a strong showing in her final home game after the missing the regular-season finale due to injury.
Sweet trio
The three schools in North Carolina’s Triangle region — UNC, Duke and N.C. State — reached the Sweet 16 together for the first time since 2007.
Up next
The Tar Heels will play the second-seeded Blue Devils on Friday. The Atlantic Coast Conference rivals split their regular-season meetings.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
By AARON BEARD
AP Basketball Writer
