For the first time in nearly a month, the UNC womenโs basketball team is enjoying a winning streak.
Carolina started the year 5-0, then lost three in a row. The Tar Heels beat UNC-Greensboro to open December, lost to UConn, then obliterated Western Carolina on Friday, Dec. 15.
UNC picked up its second-consecutive win on Tuesday, Dec. 19, topping Oklahoma 61-52 in the Jumpman Invitational.
While the victory was a sweet early Christmas present, it was a basketball landmark for one Tar Heel.
Deja Kelly, one of the best guard in womenโs college basketball, became the 25th player in program history to reach 1,500 points.
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Last night in Charlotte, in her 100th career game, DK became the 25th player in program history to score โญ๏ธ ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ โญ๏ธ#GoHeels | #InPursuit | @dejakelly25 pic.twitter.com/vz9A57ireS
โ Carolina Women’s Basketball (@uncwbb) December 20, 2023
How Kelly reached 1,500 in Tuesdayโs game, though, came via one of her season-best outputs. The senior scored a game-high 21 points on 7-of-14 field goal shooting, plus a 7-of-12 mark from the free throw line.
According to the Daily Tar Heel, Kelly also played the game with an illness. Sounds familiarโฆremember Michael Jordanโs flu game?
Kelly received a lot of praise from her teammates and head coach Courtney Banghart, who noted she wanted to suit up regardless.
โDeja is a dog,โ senior forwardย Alyssa Ustby told the Daily Tar Heel. โThat girl will do anything for her teammates, and she knows how much she brings to our team and so being sick, and she was pretty sick, and so for her to come out here and to play so selflessly and to even get to the basket and just hold her own was remarkable.โ
We have yet to see anything on MJ himself complementing Kelly, but weโll be on a close lookout for it.
What will Kelly and her teammates do for an encore on New Yearโs Eve against Clemson?
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