Oluchi Okananwa and Duke beat North Carolina 47-38 to advance to 12th Elite 8 in program history
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Oluchi Okananwa recorded her third double-double of the season to lead ACC Tournament champion Duke past North Carolina 47-38 Friday and into the Elite 8 of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils will make their 12th Elite 8 appearance in program history and will play either No. 1 seed and defending champion South Carolina or fourth-seeded Maryland, who were scheduled to play later Friday in Birmingham.
Okananwa scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half along with 10 rebounds off the bench for Duke, which got 26 points from its bench compared to North Carolina’s six. Ashlon Jackson finished with 10 points, and Toby Fournier, Duke’s leading scorer this season who missed the second round with an illness, was held to three points.
Fifth-year senior Alyssa Ustby had nine points on 3 of 10 shooting for the Tar Heels, who fell short in their attempt to advance to their first Elite 8 since 2014.
Neither team shot the ball well. Duke shot 31% after missing its first nine field goals. North Carolina went 28% from the field.
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. North Carolina coach Courtney 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.
It was the first ever meeting in the NCAA tournament between the two teams, who have played each other 111 times. North Carolina still holds a slight 56-55 edge.
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