Kelly, Ustby lift No. 17 Tar Heels women are now No. 13 Duke

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Deja Kelly scored 19 points, Alyssa Ustby had 10 of her 16 The pivotal third quarter saw No. 17 North Carolina beat No. 13 Duke on Thursday night ended the Blue Devils 11-game winning streak.

Eva Hodgson was the only player to score in the game. She scored at the foul line during the final seconds. Her pair of 2.8 seconds sealed the victory.

Kennedy Todd Williams added 13 points to the Tar Heels’ (13-5, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) win. They have now won four straight conference games following their loss of the previous three. To improve to 5-3 against ranked opponents, they shot 6 of the 10 field goals and made 8 of the 10 free throws in quarter four.

Shayeann day-Wilson had 24 points, a season high (16-2, 6-1) and missed five free throws during the fourth quarter. Reigan Richardson had 12 points. Celeste Taylor, the leading scorer, was unable to make it to one basket with just 30.2 seconds remaining.

The 104th meeting was held between the rivals, with Ivory Latta and Trinidad James, a former Tar Heels player. North Carolina leads the series 53 to 51 and this was their first ranking since March 1, 2015.

Ustby made all five shots. The Tar Heels went 9 out of 10 in the third quarter, breaking away from a 21-21 halftime tie and taking a lead of 40-31 into the fourth quarter. North Carolina tied the game at 31. Paulina Paris made two layups and Ustby made one.

It was less than artistic, and ended 21-21. This half was the lowest scoring for either team this season.

Duke could not have started to the game worse, with eight missed shots and seven turnovers before Jordyn Oli scored at the 2:07 mark. However, the Tar Heels weren’t going away. They finished the first quarter of 14 with five turnovers and a lead of 12-5.

North Carolina was left with a 5 1/2 minute drought in the second half. However, the Blue Devils managed seven points. Day-Wilson scored a jumper from the foul line to tie the game at 16.

Kelly responded by jumping for Tar Hells, before Day Wilson’s 3, at 2:42, gave Duke the lead. Taylor was only three minutes late, having picked up two quick fouls. The Blue Devils returned to the game.

Together, the teams shot 15 for 50 and 21 turnovers.

North Carolina will host Georgia Tech on Sunday. Duke will host Syracuse.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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