On Sunday, Stanford women’s basketball fell to No. 15 North Carolina at home by a final score of 69-67. North Carolina guard Alyssa Ustby led the way for the Tarheels with 16 points and eight rebounds while guard Lexi Donarski and center Maria Gakdeng each had 12 points. Stanford forward Nunu Agara was the top performer for the Cardinal with 22 points and 14 rebounds. North Carolina improves to 20-4 overall and 8-3 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 11-10 overall and 3-7 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference: North Carolina
BOX SCORE: North Carolina at Stanford-Sunday, February 2nd
“First I want to compliment UNC, they have a very good team,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “They shot the ball very well tonight. They have some players who typically don’t shoot that well who got hot and credit to them. They’re very physical, they play hard, they outrebounded us for the bulk of the game, but I was proud of how our team closed that gap in the fourth quarter. I think that was a big key to coming back.
“Obviously it’s really disappointing. We were right there, we had an opportunity to pull this one out, we had a great crowd today. I’m just really proud of how our team fought and to come back and be in a situation where we have an opportunity to win the game. We’re getting a lot of different contributions from people that at the beginning of the season we didn’t.”
With 5:02 to go in the 1st quarter, it was tied 9-9 after Maria Gakdeng had a bucket inside for the Tarheels in response to a pullup jumper made by Stanford’s Brooke Demetre. Both teams were playing hard.
At the end of the 1st quarter, North Carolina led 20-12 as Gakdeng was up to six points and two rebounds. As for Stanford, Chloe Clardy was leading the way with five points.
North Carolina would continue to lead up 32-24 with 3:56 to go in the 2nd quarter. Gakdeng was doing work inside for the Cardinal. Stanford needed to find a way to contain her. Clardy was up to nine points for Stanford while Nunu Agara had eight points. Both players were off to a nice start.
At halftime, North Carolina led 39-32 as Gakdeng was up to 12 points and three rebounds. Agara was leading Stanford with 10 points and five rebounds. Stanford had settled in after a rough 1st quarter, narrowly winning the 2nd quarter 20-19.
North Carolina jumped out to a 9-2 run to open the 3rd quarter, giving them a 48-34 lead with 7:27 to go in the 3rd quarter. Stanford called for time, needing to reverse momentum.
With 4:16 to go in the 3rd quarter, North Carolina led 53-38. Stanford was shooting 1-9 from 3-point range. Their inability to get threes to fall was really hurting them.
Stanford would finish the 3rd quarter strong, to get within 11 points as North Carolina led 59-48 at the end of the quarter. Alyssa Ustby was up to 16 points and five rebounds for the Tarheels while Agara had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinal. Stanford needed to make a push in the 4th quarter.
Stanford would come out guns blazing in the 4th quarter as it was a 62-59 lead for North Carolina with 4:35 to go. The Cardinal were on a 9-0 run over the last 3:41 as Elena Bosgana had just hit her lone 3-pointer of the game.
Stanford would tie it up 62-62 after freshman center Kennedy Umeh got a hoop plus the harm, making the foul shot. She was really going to work inside and making her free throws all while providing a sound defensive presence in the paint.
“I’m really excited about Kennedy Umeh and her incredible progress that she’s made,” Paye said. “When I look eight points and four rebounds, her great defense inside against their bigs, that’s something that we didn’t have in our preseason or even earlier in conference play. That’s a testament to Kennedy and her work ethic and coming in every day and staying positive.”
“Honestly, just kind of pouring into myself and pouring into my team and pouring into my coaches, in my relationship with my coaches,” Umeh said of her growth. “Kate works with me on the sidelines doing post moves while the guards and the forwards are shooting. It helps me grow my game. Our strength and conditioning coach, I’ve been working with her a lot to really get my conditioning to where it needs to be to be able to help my team do whatever it needs me to do to help accomplish a win.
“I pour into our trainer. She helps me get my body right, helps me stay healthy, so I can just keep producing when I’m needed. Bird and Katie help me a lot. Tempie helps me a lot. Honestly all our coaches. They’re just really great. Pouring into them as much as they’re pouring into me and I really feel progress and I feel just growth that I didn’t feel at the beginning of the season.”
North Carolina would then go on a 7-0 run to lead 69-62 with 2:10 to go. It looked like North Carolina would pull away for good. But then, Stanford would find a way to come back and get within two points as it was 69-67 after Agara had a huge bucket inside. With 38.8 to go, Stanford now needed to get a stop. Stanford would get that stop and get the ball back with 8.2 to go.
“Nunu is a workhorse, she’s really growing into her own this season and maybe hadn’t had her best performance the past couple games, but for her to come out and get 22 points and 14 rebounds and really battle, score from all different places on the floor,” Paye said of Agara. “I just love coaching the girl. You know, I’m really proud of her.”
Out of their time out, Stanford drew up a play for Agara, who attacked the basket going baseline on the side nearest their bench. Agara was hoping to perhaps draw a foul as she went for her game-tying bucket inside, but she got neither the call nor the basket. 69-67 North Carolina escaped with a huge win.
For Stanford, this loss is disappointing given they had a chance to force overtime and pick up a win over a top 15 team. That said, they can hold their heads high knowing they battled for the full 40 minutes and gave themselves a chance to win at the very end. They just need to learn how to finish.
“I think it started with rebounding,” Paye said of their 4th quarter run. “All of a sudden we were getting stops, we’re coming up with the loose balls, we matched their physicality. I think Kennedy helped with that. Nunu got up, kind of almost to the rim on a couple of rebounds, our guards getting in there, our team is built on defense and rebounding first. That’s something that our team is really committed to and really focused on the past couple of weeks in particular and I think the rebounding is what made the difference and then you can get out and run.”
As for North Carolina, this was a great weekend for them. They became the first team in the ACC to sweep the Bay Area road trip, which is proving to be one of the toughest road trips in the conference. To follow up a win over ranked Cal team with a win over a hungry Stanford team has to feel good.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at No. 3 Notre Dame on Thursday, February 6th. Tipoff is set for 5:30 PM PT on ESPN.
“As I told our team, we’re disappointed,” Paye reiterated. “We wanna win and there are no moral victories, but we know that we are making progress and anybody who is really watching our team can see it. We remain confident, we remain optimistic, and we’re gonna do what we do, which is continue to work really hard. We’re gonna take a day off tomorrow, get to work on Tuesday, and then we’re hitting the road.”
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