Tar Heels overcome 10-point deficit to eliminate Ladyjacks

TUCSON, Ariz. — North Carolina looked like it might add its name to the list of upset victims as March Madness descended upon the women’s NCAA Tournament.

A dominating fourth quarter kept the Tar Heels moving forward in the bracket.

Deja Kelly scored 28 points, Kennedy Todd-Williams added 15 and North Carolina pulled away in the fourth on Saturday night to beat Stephen F. Austin 79-66 in the Greensboro Region.

“At halftime, we really got into them a little bit and required that we get back to our standard,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. “What I’ll remember about this game is how much these guys trusted each other. When things weren’t going well, the ball moved better and they just really trusted each other.”

The fifth-seeded Tar Heels (24-6) had not played for more than two weeks after being bounced in the first round of the ACC Tournament and it showed.

North Carolina struggled with turnovers, defensive rebounding and dug itself into an early 10-point hole.

The Tar Heels finally found the right gear in the fourth quarter, hitting 7 of 13 shots and using a 10-0 run to build an 11-point lead after trailing most of the afternoon.

“In the fourth quarter, we just had to dig deep,” said North Carolina’s Alyssa Ustby, who had 13 points and eight rebounds. “Everybody is tired at that point. We really had to focus and lock in defensively in order to keep them off the scoreboard.”

Zya Nugent scored 26 points for No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin (28-5), which was eyeing another in a string of lower-seed wins in this year’s bracket. The Ladyjacks led by 10 midway through the second quarter and were still up heading into the fourth.

But SFA folded under North Carolina’s pressure in the final quarter, shooting 3 of 13 to end what had been a memorable first season in the Western Athletic Conference.

“We were so dialed in I thought for the most part other than transition defense a little bit that whole game,” SFA coach Mark Kellogg said. “Then they just made us pay and that’s what they can do, teams of North Carolina caliber.

“They make you pay when you make a mistake. We made a few too many, and that rim got pretty big and they got going, and we just couldn’t stop the run.”

The Ladyjacks had given teams trouble all season with their fullcourt press, leading the nation with a plus-8.3 turnover margin on the way to winning the WAC regular-season title.