Triple-double helps UNC WBB star Indya Nivar earn weekly recognition

Winners of six straight, the UNC women's basketball team is enjoying another strong start under head coach Courtney Banghart.

North Carolina (8-1) started its season with blowout victories over NC Central and Elon, before UCLA delivered the first blemish in Las Vegas. The Tar Heels quickly responded with more dominant victories against Fairfield, North Carolina A&T, UNC-Greensboro, South Dakota State, Kansas State and Columbia, with the latter three coming in Thanksgiving Week's Cancun Challenge.

There isn't one particular player UNC can attribute its early-season success to, but one player's effort last week earned her national recognition.

Indya Nivar, who recorded the second triple-double in program history last week, is ACC Player of the Week. Nivar scored 13 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and stole the basketball 10 times in an 83-48, Thanksgiving Day domination of South Dakota State.

Nivar currently leads the Tar Heels with 12.1 points, 4.4 steals and 3.8 assists per game, while her 5.8 rebounds per game are second to Ciera Toomey.

Nivar began her collegiate career at Stanford, but transferred to UNC ahead of her sophomore, 2023-24 season. Nivar only started six of her 33 appearances that first season in Chapel Hill, became a full-time starter last year – and is quickly emerging into stardom.

North Carolina will face another early-season test Thursday, when it travels to Austin for a can't-miss, 7 p.m. tip-off against second-ranked Texas. Will Nivar lead her Tar Heels teammates to an upset victory, one which certainly puts the women in baby blue on national notice?

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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC WBB star Indya Nivar named ACC Player of the Week