NCAA tournament | Duke women surge past UNC 47-38 in their first-ever NCAA tourney meeting
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WTVD) -- It's not how you start; it's how you finish.
In the first-ever meeting in the women's NCAA tournament between Duke and North Carolina, it was the Tar Heels who jumped out quickly Friday afternoon, but the Blue Devils who closed strong for a 47-38 win that ended their rival's season and put the Blue Devils (29-7) in the Elite Eight.
Duke found itself down 11-0 to start the game but steadily chipped away to take a second-quarter lead it would never relinquish.
"I'll be honest. I was a little worried down 11-0 and we hadn't scored at all in the game," Duke coach Kara Lawson said. "But I don't think there's ever been a shutout. I felt pretty good we could score at some point."
That didn't come until the four-minute mark of the first, when Jordan Wood drew a foul and made one of two free throws.
Oluchi Okananwa scored 12 points off the bench to lead Duke in the low-scoring, defensive affair. Ashlon Jackson (10 points) was the only other Blue Devil in double figures.
Okananwa recorded her third double-double of the season, scoring 10 of her 12 in the first half along with 10 rebounds. Toby Fournier, Duke's leading scorer this season who missed the second round with an illness, was held to three points.
The ACC champion Blue Devils got 26 points from their bench compared to North Carolina's six.
Fifth-year senior Alyssa Ustby had nine points on 3-of-10 shooting for the third-seeded Tar Heels (29-8), who were seeking their first Elite Eight appearance since 2014. Led by Ustby, who averaged 10.9 points per game, the Tar Heels had reached their second Sweet 16 in the past four years.
"Sitting up here after a loss is disappointing," North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said, "especially when you hold your third straight tournament team below 50 points and you don't win the game."
The Blue Devils will make their 12th Elite Eight appearance in program history and will play No. 1 seed and defending champion South Carolina, which rallied past Maryland 71-67.
Neither team shot the ball well. The 85 points were the fewest combined ever in a regional semifinal. Duke shot 31% after missing its first nine field goals. North Carolina went 28% from the field.
The last time a team won in the women's tournament with just 47 points was in the 2008 Final Four when Tennessee beat LSU 47-46. That was also the previous lowest-scoring game in the Sweet 16 or later.
Part of it could have been because of familiarity. The teams played each other for the second time this season less than a month ago. Banghart said this week that there's an added level of comfort going against a team they just played.
But this was also two of the top defenses in the country going at it, forcing turnovers, errant shots, and desperate heaves late in the shot clock at the start of the game.
"Those that love offense, this probably isn't that game that you'll DVR," Banghart said. "But those that like defense, you should watch it again."
Lawson said it was exactly the type of game you would expect from rivals who are so familiar with each other.
"That's just how these games are," Lawson said. "If you've watched these games over the last few years, it's competitive, really gritty. I thought both teams played with great effort. It wasn't our best night offensively, that's for sure."
After North Carolina fell behind by 10 points in the third quarter, Reniya Kelly knocked down a 3-pointer and Lanie Grant made a driving layup to pull the Tar Heels within two at the end of the period.
That was the closest they got. Duke scored seven straight at the start of the fourth, highlighted by Jackson's 3-pointer with five minutes remaining. Jackson scored five of Duke's 10 fourth-quarter points, while North Carolina only managed six in the fourth.
The two teams have played each other 111 times. North Carolina holds a razor-thin edge, 56-55. The teams split during the regular season, but the Blue Devils women got the final word and joined their male counterparts in the Elite Eight.
Lawson downplayed the rivalry, emphasizing that her team's focus was simply to survive and advance, no matter the opponent.
"What you're chasing is always more important than who you have to go through," Lawson said. "What you're chasing has to take precedence. We try to focus on that."
ABC11' Travon Miles and The Associated Press contributed.
