Senior guard Ashley Key and North Carolina’s senior guard Ivory Latta had their own game Sunday afternoon.

It started when Key drew two charges against Latta. It grew larger when Latta hit a three, looked directly at Key, had a few words and then strutted down the court with a smile. The next possession, Key matched with a three of her own and looked for Latta.

From there, it was on.

The two senior leaders went back-and-forth throughout the game — whether through talking or scoring during North Carolina’s 86-65 win at Carmichael Auditorium.

But Latta said it’s not because they don’t like each other.

“She’s actually my best friend,” Latta said, while laughing. “You know, we are cool. We talk about things, like what are we going to cook tonight, on the court. It’s all good.”

After the first half, each player had totaled 11 points and two steals. Latta went 4-of-7 from the field with three 3-pointers, while Key went 4-of-6 from the field. Latta also had one rebound and three assists compared to Key’s two rebounds and one assist.

While Key only scored two points in the second half, Latta didn’t slow down. She finished the game with 20 points and tacked on another three 3-pointers in the second half to finish the game with six.

Late in the game, after one of her threes, Latta looked at the student section, pretended she had a handgun and pulled the trigger.

With less than three minutes remaining and after another North Carolina score, Latta danced near midcourt, which caused the crowd to erupt. However, after a referee threatened to give Latta a technical, she complained, frowned and then got back on defense.

While Key was unavailable for comment after the game due to a team doctor working on her injured knee, Latta did say Key defended well throughout the game.

“She played good defense on me, and I just settled down and worked the ball into the post,” Latta said. “They were finding me open.”

Interim coach Stephanie Glance also said she was pleased with Key, but said her senior guard pumps up Latta.

“Ashley must fire Ivory up,” Glance said.

“She’s 6-for-9 from the three-point line, and Ashley is a very good defender. There were a couple times we had a miscommunication on the court. Ashley played her. Ashley is one of our better defenders. Ivory had a great game. It’s a great matchup.”

Aside from Key, senior forward Sasha Reaves finished the game a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line — totaling a career-high 21 points.

Reaves and 6-foot-7 senior center Gillian Goring started in the front court. While Glance didn’t name any players, the team didn’t start junior forward Khadijah Whittington.

“We just had a player that had a minor violation of team rules,” Glance said.

Next up for State is Virginia on Thursday. While the team has lost two consecutive games, Glance said there is still a long season ahead.

“All is not lost on these two games,” Glance said. “It’s very tough to play No. 1 and No. 2 in the country back-to-back.”