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It’s been quite a season for Courtney Banghart and her troops.
For one of the few times since UNC debuted a Division 1 team in 1974-75, the Tar Heels are going to wind up with a better season than the men.
Yes, it happened in 1994 when Charlotte Smith hit the winning shot to beat Louisiana Tech for the NCAA championship in Richmond while the men went out in the NCAA second round.
And there were the back-to-back ACC championships and Final Fours behind Ivory Latta and her stunning resume. Carolina lost to Maryland in the 2006 national semifinals in Boston and the next year lost a close game to Tennessee in Cleveland.
But when you take over a program and try to live up to the standard set by the iconic coaches and both men and women players, that is a three-quarter-court heave. Banghart’s 12th-ranked team beat Virginia Tech Thursday night for its first victory over the Hokies since 2022 on the way to a 10-3 ACC record (22-4 overall).
Banghart’s Heels face perhaps their biggest game of the season Sunday at 2 pm when 10th-ranked N.C. State visits Carmichael Arena on ESPN’s top channel. The Wolfpack are 20-4 overall and 12-1 with its only ACC loss to currently No. 24 Cal (whose women’s team is also overshadowing the Bears men).
The only regular season meeting between the archrivals, this is more than a game for pride. It may say something about seeding in the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
Success in high school recruiting and the transfer portal gives Banghart the best team she has had since arriving from Princeton.
The newfangled balance she has is remarkable. The top four scorers have averages within two points of each other. The fourth-highest scorer is sophomore Reniya Kelly, who is also their other best shooter with grad student Lexi Donarski; both hit over 40 percent from the arc. Shooting guard Donarski played three seasons at Iowa State and is using her fifth year to start an MBA at Kenan Flagler Business School.
The heart of the team is Alyssa Ustby, who collected 16 rebounds against Virginia Tech to move up to second all-time at UNC with 1,210 career boards. The fifth-year grad student averages 11.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
Banghart has put together her oldest and deepest team with 11 players getting at least 10 minutes a game. She was honored by Fortune Magazine in 2015 as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.
In her sixth season at UNC and 18th as a head coach, her career record stands at 372-163. Her Tar Heels are 118-60 over five-plus campaigns.
Born and raised in New Hampshire, Banghart was a three-year starter at Dartmouth, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience in 2000 and still holds records for three-point shooting.
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Featured image via Associated Press/LM Otero
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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