SYRACUSE, N.Y, — Amidst a sea of orange at JMA Wireless Dome on Thursday night was a large patch of Carolina blue in Section 109 behind the North Carolina women’s basketball team bench.
Many of them were wearing No. 21 jerseys for Ciera Toomey.
Dunmore was out in full force as a large contingent of family, friends and fans made the two-hour trip north to see the former Lady Bucks standout and redshirt freshman play for the Tar Heels against Syracuse University in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.
They got a pleasant surprise, too. Toomey made her first career collegiate start in ninth-ranked North Carolina’s 68-58 victory. She had three points and two assists in 12½ minutes.
Her mom and Dunmore girls basketball coach Carrie Toomey found out as she was leaving practice Thursday around 3:30 p.m. that her daughter was starting.
“It was great that she got her first start only two hours from home,” Carrie said. “With all the people who came to see her play, I’m thankful for that and I’m sure Ciera is too.”
Among those in attendance was Dunmore High School principal Tim Hopkins.
“This was a great opportunity and I’m glad the Dunmore community came out. It was really something to see,” Hopkins said. “The talk around school and the community was, ‘Who’s going to the game?’ The Lady Bucks were going to come up, but canceled because of their (district playoff) game (Friday). It was just big community support. And she got the start. She’s been doing well all year. Everybody follows her. It was just a really nice thing to see her play.”
North Carolina did not make Toomey available to speak with the media postgame. However, she did spend some time with those who came to see her.
Toomey got the start because 6-foot-1 Alyssa Ustby — the Tar Heels’ leader in points (10.7), rebounds (9.4) and assists (81) — is sidelined with a left knee injury. She was hurt two minutes into the game four days ago against North Carolina State.
“Alyssa would be in that spot,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. “So with Alyssa out we opted to go big today. She (Toomey) can stretch the floor, but she can play big and Syracuse is big.
“There’s different things you might do and different lineups. But I’m certainly glad we have our depth.”
Sporting a facemask to protect an injury of her own — she suffered a broken nose when she caught an elbow against Clemson on Feb. 9 — Toomey received a nice ovation from her cheering section when her name was announced in the starting lineup.
She played the first five minutes of the first quarter, assisting on a basket by Maria Gakdeng that gave the Tar Heels a 7-4 lead. She checked back into the game with 1:11 left in the first and started the second quarter, missing a 3-point attempt in the opening minute. She sat out the final 7:27 of the first half.
To begin the second half, Toomey started and again fed Gakdeng for a basket 36 seconds in to give North Carolina a 37-25 lead. Then, on the next Tar Heels possession, she took a pass from teammate Indya Nivar and hit a 3-pointer to the delight of the local fans and make it 40-25 — North Carolina’s largest lead of the night. She headed to the bench with 6:09 left in the third quarter and did not return for the remainder of the game.
Toomey has appeared in 26 games and is averaging 3.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.4 minutes. Her season high is 10 points on three occasions: Nov. 15 against UConn; Nov. 29 against North Carolina Central; and Dec. 21 against Norfolk State. She grabbed a season-high eight rebounds Nov. 7 against UNC-Wilmington.
“She missed her senior year (of high school) because of an injury, then she missed her freshman year here with a different injury,” Banghart said. “She’s missed a lot of time and she’s playing behind a pro, a fifth-year senior.
“But her mental strength and her family’s trust in the process is why she gets better every day. There’s no ‘Uh, oh’ or ‘Woe is me.’ It’s all, ‘I want to keep getting better.’ You’ll see her a little bit more until Alyssa comes back. You got to see her a little bit more tonight than maybe otherwise. But I thought she did some really nice thing, so that will be good. She just needs to stack more and more possessions so she feels more and more ready.”
As for the game, North Carolina (24-4 overall, 12-3 league) won its sixth straight behind a double-double of 21 points and 14 rebounds from Gakdeng. Trayanna Crisp added 12 points and Nivar had 11.
Syracuse (10-16, 4-11) hung tough with the Tar Heels. The Orange closed to within 59-53 midway through the fourth quarter on two foul shots by Kyra Wood. But North Carolina responded with a 7-0 run on baskets by Nivar and Crisp and a 3-pointer by Lexi Donarski to open a 66-53 lead with 2:58 to play.
Georgia Woolley led Syracuse with 17 points and Sophie Burrows chipped in 12.
Source: Berkshire mont
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