Duke basketball games against UNC this season have not been overly pretty.

In January, the Tar Heels defeated the Blue Devils 53-46 in overtime. It was a 68-53 final in favor of Duke in the regular season rematch in Durham.

But in the game that mattered the most, it was again Duke that came out victorious against the Tar Heels with an ugly, hard fought 47-38 win in the Sweet 16 to advance to the Elite 8.

It all started horribly for Kara Lawson’s team, surrendering an 11-0 run in the opening six minutes but, as this team does, found a quick response. The Lady Blue Devils would cut the gap to four, 13-9, by the end of the first quarter and it was the beginning of a 28-9 run to go into halftime.

Duke led 28-20 at the break and let its defense do the rest.

Carolina score only 18 points in the second half and managed just six points in the fourth quarter after entering the final stanza only trailing by five, 37-32.

The Blue Devils allowed North Carolina to shoot just 28.3-percent from the floor (15-of-53) and 27.3-percent from 3-point range (3-for-11). The Heels did not help themselves at the free throw line, either, making just 5-of-10.

Given the score, the offensive numbers for Duke were not much better but it found enough made shots to get across the finish line and book a date with either South Carolina or Maryland in the Elite 8 on Sunday afternoon.

Oluchi Okananwa led the way off the bench with 12 points while Ashlon Jackson chipped in ten points on just 3-of-16 shooting. Delaney Thomas and Vanessa de Jesus each had eight points in the victory.

North Carolina star Alyssa Ustby fell one point shy of a double-double with nine points and ten rebounds but was only 3-of-10 from the field.