Prior to each Carolina women’s basketball game, head coach Courtney Banghart will identify keys to victory, a practice that’s commonplace for any coach. After all, as a coach, you have to craft a plan for success. Things were no different for Carolina on Sunday in the Phil Knight Invitational Championship Game against No. 5 Iowa State. While there were certainly areas pointed out and promoted to the team behind closed doors, the message from Banghart publicly was simple.
“Be hard to beat.”
With about three minutes to go in the first half of Carolina’s first top-10 vs. top-10 matchup since January 2014, Carolina seemed easy to beat. Iowa State was up 32-15, limiting the Tar Heels to just six field goals and converting with success in their two-headed offensive attack. Stephanie Soares, a 6-6 center, had scored 11 points for the Cyclones, while four well-timed threes helped to add to the lead. The Carolina offense seemed stuck in the mud, one of the nation’s elite teams in Iowa State was finding its offensive groove, and it seemed the problems that had Carolina down at halftime in consecutive games finally were ready to catch up with the Tar Heels. If you’re an outsider, that’s a fair thought. But inside the Carolina locker room? Inside the mind of Banghart and her players? A different story. Iowa State hadn’t beaten them yet, and Carolina wanted to make that a hard task.
“They knew they were going to have to meet me at halftime and wanted me to be a less crabby coach at halftime,” Banghart joked.
Over the final 2:21 of the half, the Tar Heels held Iowa State scoreless and forced three turnovers. The 17-point lead was down to 13. That was a microcosm of what was to come. A slightly-less-crabby Banghart went to work with her team. Even with Iowa State’s success offensively, the Tar Heels’ fourth-year leader wasn’t too concerned with the Cyclones’ ability to score. Instead, she wanted her team to play up to their potential offensively.
“We scored only 22 points in the first half so we spent a lot of time on the offensive end,” Banghart said of the locker room focus.
The offensive sets Carolina utilized in the second half clearly worked. The Tar Heels shot 54.8 percent (17-for-31) from the floor in the second half, including a 6-for-9 effort from three. That nearly-55-percent clip was a massive jump from the 21.2 percent (7-for-33)…
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