CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Deja Kelly scored 13 of her 18 points in the first half, Alyssa Ustby finished with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds and No. 17 North Carolina trailed for just 23 seconds Sunday in its 70-57 win over Georgia Tech.
Kennedy Todd-Williams had 13 points and seven rebounds for North Carolina (14-5, 5-3 ACC) and Eva Hodgson scored 10 points.
Kelly scored seven points — including the final five — in a 9-2 spurt to give North Carolina the lead for good and make it 18-11 at the end of the first quarter.
Freshman Tonie Morgan led Georgia Tech (10-10, 1-8) with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Cameron Swartz scored 13. Morgan, who had 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds last time out, made 6 of 9 from the field while the rest of the Yellow Jackets shot just 30.2% (16 of 53).
Todd-Williams hit a 3-pointer to give UNC a 10-point lead with 2 minutes left in the second quarter and Kelly made another as time expired to make it 37-28 at halftime. Swartz hit a 3 early in the third quarter to cut Georgia Tech’s deficit to eight points but the Tar Heels scored 19 of the next 24 points to take a 57-36 lead — their biggest of the game — with 2:17 to go in the period.
The Yellow Jackets were coming off a 69-57 win over Syracuse on Thursday that snapped a six-game skid overall and ended a seven-game losing streak in conference play. It was only their second win since Dec. 11.
The Tar Heels have won five in a row following a four-game skid that ended with a 60-50 win over then-No. 4 Notre Dame on Jan. 8. North Carolina then beat Virginia 70-59 on the road, limited then-No. 11 N.C. State to a season-low 47 points in a nine-point win and ended No. 13 Duke’s 11-game win streak with a 61-56 win over the Blue Devils on Thursday.
UP NEXT
Georgia returns home to play Clemson on Thursday
North Carolina hits the road to take on Pittsburgh on Thursday
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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