The ACC is wide open this season, which breeds opportunities like that in Chapel Hill on Sunday afternoon when <a href="https://www.on3.com/sites/cardinal-sports-report/">Stanford</a> upset the No. 16 <a href="https://www.on3.com/teams/north-carolina-tar-heels/">North Carolina Tar Heels</a> 77-71 in overtime. 



For more than 30 minutes inside Carmichael Arena, North Carolina looked in control. The Tar Heels dictated pace, led for most of regulation and forced Stanford to play from behind. But in a conference where margins are thin and composure matters, the game never got away from the Cardinal.



“We talk about basketball being a game of runs,” Stanford guard <a href="https://www.on3.com/rivals/courtney-ogden-238894/">Courtney Ogden</a>, who led the team in scoring, told On3. “When they go on a run, we tell ourselves to stay poised, then start our run.”



Stanford did exactly that; stringing together stops late, crashing the glass in the fourth quarter and going into overtime with momentum that earned them a major victory. Head coach Kate Paye felt it building.



“We’ve been kind of a fourth-quarter team as of late,” Paye told On3. “We had momentum building through the fourth quarter. We executed a very nice play, got the player we wanted going to the basket for a shot right as the buzzer went off, so I felt like we went into overtime with confidence and momentum.”



That confidence showed immediately. Stanford outworked UNC in the extra period, leaned on timely shot-making and trusted its system. This illustrates a program beginning to look more comfortable in Paye’s second season following the legendary Tara VanDerveer era.



Ogden embodied that growth. After a quiet first half, she exploded after the break, focusing on doing what her team needed most.



“My main focus was rebounding more,” she said. “Just doing whatever my team needed.”



Her performance, Paye said, reflected a larger shift after Stanford’s previous 28-point loss at NC State.



“We really challenged our team, individually and collectively, to compete harder,” Paye said. Courtney is a great example of that.”



For North Carolina, the loss came down to numbers that don’t usually add up to wins. Between missed free throws, turnovers and shooting struggles, it wasn’t a pretty performance. Head coach Courtney Banghart didn’t sugarcoat it.



“You shoot 21 percent from three, miss 12 free throws, turn the ball over 15 times and get out-rebounded by 12…,” Banghart said. “You can’t win that game.”



But the bigger takeaway stretched beyond one night. Stanford’s win reinforced a growing truth across the league and the national landscape: parity is here to stay.



“We have competitors in the ACC…,” Ogden said. “We’re right there with them. We have great personnel, we’re very cohesive and we can do it all. We’re right there with the best of the best.”



Paye echoed that sentiment, pointing to tournament-caliber teams throughout the conference.



“Night in and night out, it’s extremely competitive,” she said. “That’s going to prepare us for the NCAA tournament.”



For Stanford, that preparation is starting to translate. With young players contributing, chemistry strengthening, and belief solidifying, the Cardinal are increasing their stock day by day.

Kate Paye

Women's Sports

Stanford's win at North Carolina reinforces growing parity in women's basketball

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Stanford's win at North Carolina reinforces growing parity in women's basketball

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