Mabrey scores 24, No. 20 Irish women top No. 21 Tar Heels

Sun, Jan 16, 2022
NCAAB News (AP)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Dara Mabrey hit a season-high six 3-pointers and scored 24 points in her 100th career start and No. 20 Notre Dame held off No. 21 North Carolina 70-65 on Sunday.

Mabrey also made a pair of free throws with 39 seconds left to make it a three-possession game after the Tar Heels had cut a 10-point deficit to five with 43 seconds to play.

Sonia Citron had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Irish (13-3, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) and Maya Dodson tallied 10 points and 11 boards. Maddy Westbeld scored 11.

Deja Kelly had a pair of four-point plays and scored 22 points for the Tar Heels (14-2, 4-2). Alyssa Ustby added 15 points and Kennedy Todd-Williams 13. North Carolina was without Eva Hodgson, an 11-point scorer, because of COVID-19 protocols.

Todd-Williams had 11 points in the first half and her layup in the middle of the second quarter gave the Tar Heels their biggest lead at 30-21. The Irish erased that quickly to trail 34-33 at the break.

Carlie Littlefield hit a 3-pointer for North Carolina to start the second half, but Mabrey and Olivia Miles buried 3-pointers to start a 9-0 run that turned into a 17-2 surge for a 50-39 Irish lead.

A Kelly 3-pointer pulled the Heels within 50-48 and a Littlefield 3 cut it to 56-55 with 8:17 to play before the Irish opened that late 68-58 lead with 2:43 to go.

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More 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