Elina Aarnisalo had 21 points, Lanie Grant scored 20 and North Carolina used a strong fourth quarter to beat Maryland 74-66 on Sunday and reach the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
Nyla Harris had 14 points and eight rebounds and Indya Nivar added 11 points to help the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (28-7) advance in the Fort Worth 1 Regional later in the week. They will play the winner of No. 1 UConn vs. No. 9 Syracuse.
"We just had to stay aggressive," North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. "But you don't go this long into the season and not trust your (players). These are close games. We know they're going to be. We're prepared for it. I trust them."
Oluchi Okananwa, who helped eliminate North Carolina last March in the Sweet 16 when she played for Duke, scored 21 points for No. 5 seed Maryland (24-9). Addi Mack had 13 points and Mir McLean had 12 points and 14 rebounds. The Terrapins couldn't overcome 3-for-23 shooting on 3-pointers.
"I felt like it was there for the taking for us," Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. "We didn't manage enough plays to take it."
After briefly falling behind, the Tar Heels used a 13-4 run, sparked by six points from Nivar, early in the fourth quarter for a 63-56 lead.
"They gave us a good run, and we kind of just did a good job of absorbing that and not panicking, not trying to do too much, not getting away from the game plan," Grant said.
Maryland pulled within three in the final two minutes, but freshman Nyla Brooks drained a 3-pointer from in front of the North Carolina bench.
"Nyla Brooks has been shooting those 3s all season," Aarnisalo said. "She's not afraid to take any shots."
The Terrapins failed to convert as part of 30.6% shooting in the second half.
"We had a lot of uncharacteristic missed shots in this game," Frese said.
North Carolina took a 42-33 halftime lead, shooting 56.7% in the half.
Nivar picked up her fourth foul with 7:06 left in the third quarter. Maryland was even at 50-50 by the final minute of the quarter.
North Carolina has reached the Sweet 16 in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2014 and 2015.
Board work
Maryland was relentless on the boards, tracking down 21 offensive rebounds. Eventually, Banghart was hoping some of those shots would just go in.
"I got to the point where I was praying Oluchi would make her free throws because I didn't want to have to rebound it," Banghart said.
The Terrapins scored 21 second-chance points.
Needing more assists
Maryland's three assists were its fewest this season and lowest total in an NCAA Tournament game.
The 66 points marked the third-lowest total of the season for Maryland, which entered averaging 82.8.
Up next
The Tar Heels advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 20th time.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
