University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Prairie View A&M
Balanced UNC Tops Prairie View A&M 81-45
November 30, 2014 | Women's Basketball
HONOLULU, Hawaii – North Carolina freshman Jamie Cherry came off the bench to lead her team with a career-high 15 points as the UNC women's basketball team beat Prairie View A&M 81-45 Saturday in the Rainbow Wahine Showdown. Sophomore Allisha Gray and senior Danielle Butts added 13 points and seven rebounds each for the No. 11 Tar Heels, who improved to 6-0 on the year. Prairie View fell to 0-5.
All 12 players scored for UNC and all played at least 11 minutes.
“I think this game showed the balance and the depth of our team,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “That's such a strong point for us. It was great to have everyone play and rest some of them for tomorrow – three days in a row is a lot.”
No starter saw more than 20 minutes on Saturday as the Tar Heels played for the second day in a row, following a 70-54 win over No. 5 Stanford on Friday. Carolina will take on host Hawaii Sunday at 4:30 local time (9:30 EST). “Our starters should be rested and ready to go tomorrow,” Hatchell said. “They know how tough it's going to be against Hawaii on their home court. And our reinforcements should have a lot of confidence after playing like they did today.”
UNC jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and the Lady Panthers never threatened. Prairie View made just 1 of its first 17 shots, but picked up four field goals in the final 2:30 of the half to reach 5-24 (20.8) by halftime. The Tar Heels led by as many as 27 points in the first half and were up 42-21 at halftime behind 44.4 percent shooting (16-36).
Carolina opened the second half with a 15-0 run to lead 57-21. The Tar Heels' largest lead of the game was 39 at 68-29.
Senior guard Jeanette Jackson led the Lady Panthers with 24 points, 16 of them coming on free throws. (She was 16-for-22 from the line.) No other Prairie View player was in double figures.
Cherry was 4-for-8 from the field with two 3-pointers. She also had three assists and a steal with just two turnovers in 23 minutes.
