Fourth quarter explosion propels No. 15 UNC over Pitt, 72-57
UNC found itself down 33-29 at halftime on Thursday night, facing its first halftime deficit since Jan. 8 against Notre Dame.
Before the Pitt match up, the Tar Heels were 4-4 in games when they trailed at the break, losing only once in this scenario against an unranked team (Miami, Jan. 5).
A fourth quarter explosion stopped it from happening again. UNC escaped an upset by beating the Panthers, 72-57, for its sixth straight win.
Both teams started the game on fire as the Tar Heels finished the first quarter with 19 points and still down by two. Deja Kelly played exceptionally well in the first period, knocking down four of her five attempts for 10 points, and it seemed as if UNC would be okay without Eva Hodgson's presence on the floor. Destiny Adams started in place for Hodgson who did not play due to a non-COVID illness.
From that point, however, UNC needed an offensive spark from somewhere as they couldn't buy a basket for the next two quarters. The Tar Heels made a combined seven field goals in the second and third periods and struggled through a three-minute, 23-second scoring drought to end the first half.
With the help of some great defense slowing down Pitt's offensive attack, UNC slowly chipped the deficit away, tying the game at 44 heading into the fourth.
From there, UNC took over.
The Tar Heels began the period on a 17-1 run, taking complete control of a game that had great upset potential just the quarter before.
Kennedy Todd-Williams, Alyssa Ustby and Kelly each had a productive 10 minutes as Todd-Williams led the charge with 10 points and two steals.
UNC relentlessly cashed in easy buckets at the rim, scoring 14 of its 28 fourth quarter points in the paint. Driving and finding looks inside also led to their most free-throw opportunities all night with UNC making eight of its nine foul shot attempts in the last period.
Todd-Williams finished the game with a career-high of 22 points, beating her previous record of 21 against Virginia on Jan. 12.
The Tar Heels move to 15-5 overall and 6-3 in conference play. They also improved their away record to .500 with another road game against Clemson coming up on Sunday at 4 p.m.
