North Carolina’s women’s basketball team opened exhibition play with a stronger finish than start, using a late burst to pull away from Davidson and win 76-66 on Sunday afternoon at Carmichael Arena.
Achol Akot led the way for the Tar Heels with 18 points and 11 rebounds, good for an exhibition double-double. Kate Harpring added 17 points in her unofficial Carolina debut and also chipped in eight rebounds and two assists.
Nyla Brooks rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points. Carolina’s bench supplied 21 points in the win.
Davidson came out shooting with confidence and controlled the first quarter, hitting 61.3% of its shots to build a 22-17 lead. Akot helped keep Carolina within range early, going 3-of-4 from the floor and collecting four rebounds in the opening period. Harpring added six points, three rebounds and a steal in the frame.
The Tar Heels flipped the game in the second quarter with a 12-0 run to open the period, sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers from Gabby White. White, Harpring and Taissa Queiroz combined for 18 of Carolina’s 24 points in the quarter, and the trio also helped on the glass and as passers with four rebounds and three assists between them. The teams went to halftime tied at 40.
Carolina tightened things up even more after the break. The Tar Heels held Davidson to eight points in the third quarter and went more than eight minutes without allowing a field goal. Akot kept driving the effort with six more points and four rebounds in the period, while Laila Hull supplied two blocks as Carolina took a 52-48 lead into the fourth.
The final quarter turned into a back-and-forth stretch before Carolina delivered the finishing run. Brooks and Reniya Kelly each hit from deep early in the period, and Davidson managed to tie the game at 61 with under five minutes remaining. From there, Brooks knocked down her second and third 3-pointers of the day as Carolina answered with a 12-5 run to close it out.
In Other News...
UNC Just Landed A Huge Stage To Prove This Run Is Real
The Tar Heels win over Duke gave Bill Belichicks team a useful checkpoint in a season that now sits at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in ACC play. After a 4-8 debut year under Belichick, North Carolina has at least put itself in position to make this fall feel different, and the schedule is lining up to show whether the progress is real or just a good first half.
Next comes Syracuse at home, then the kind of spotlight game that can shape how the rest of the season is judged: a primetime date with the No. 1-ranked Miami Hurricanes on October 31. For a team trying to prove it has moved beyond simply being competitive, the coming stretch offers a chance to measure itself against a ranked opponent and see whether the momentum from the Duke win can carry onto a bigger stage. [Read more 🡒]
Belichick Keeps Pushing One UNC Identity Fans Are Starting To See
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For North Carolina, that message fits the way close games can play out in the ACC, where small details tend to decide plenty of Saturdays. Belichick also pointed to preparation and execution as the real focus, rather than the venue or the surrounding noise, which is a useful marker for a program still defining what its identity under him will look like. Fans are beginning to see the outline, even if the full picture is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Keeps Winning Tight Games In A Very Belichick Way
North Carolina has been living on the edge lately, and it keeps finding a way to step back from it. The Tar Heels followed up their second straight road ACC win with another tight finish against Duke, using a fourth-quarter comeback and a defensive stop to move to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the league. It was the kind of game that fits the bigger trend around this team: close, tense, and decided by execution late.
Bill Belichick has made no secret of how much he values situational football, and his weekly press conference sounded like the same message the Tar Heels have been trying to carry into these games. UNC has now won three one-score games this season, matching its total from Belichicks first season, and that is the sort of record that changes how a team is viewed in October. The question now is whether that late-game edge is becoming a habit or just a very narrow escape repeated often enough to matter. [Read more 🡒]