Exhibition Win Gives Tar Heels Final Preseason Tune-Up

Saturday, November 2

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2:00 PM

North Carolina

0-0,0-0ACC

Wingate (Exhibition)

0-0,0-0SAC

Wingate

North Carolina

Janelle Bailey led UNC with 16 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's exhibition game win.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

November 2, 2019 | Women's Basketball

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By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – In a final tune-up before the regular season opens on Thursday, the North Carolina women's basketball team beat visiting Wingate 82-37 Saturday afternoon in an exhibition game at Carmichael Arena. Junior center Janelle Bailey led four Tar Heels in double figures with 16 points and added a team-high 11 rebounds.

Senior guard Shayla Bennett scored 14 points, including 7-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. Freshman Kennady Tucker came off the bench to score 12 points, and senior guard Taylor Koenen had 11 points and a team-high five assists.

The Tar Heels outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-39 and held the visitors to single-digit points in the second and third quarters.

"It was good to get a chance to be all on one team today – it's been a long time of just practicing against each other," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "It's good to get your sea legs a little bit. We've got a lot of experience and a lot of inexperience on this team, so we need as many of these outings as we can get."

UNC's next outing is Thursday, when the Tar Heels host Western Carolina for the season opener and Banghart's first game as the Carolina coach. Game time at Carmichael is 6 p.m.

Saturday's exhibition was close early, and Wingate tied it at 13-13 with 1:47 to play in the first quarter on a bucket from the free throw line by freshman forward Daphney Saylor. But the Tar Heels pulled away after that, closing the half with a 5-0 run on a jumper by Bennett and a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Tucker (assisted by Bennett) to take a 18-13 lead into the second quarter.

UNC held Wingate to just five points in the second period to open up a 37-18 lead by halftime. The Tar Heels went almost six minutes without a field goal but continued to pull ahead by hitting 11 of 18 free throw attempts in the quarter.

Carolina outscored the Bulldogs 24-6 in the third quarter, shooting 42.1 percent from the field (8-19), including four of nine three-point attempts. In the fourth quarter, the score was never closer than 36. Junior center Emily Sullivan hit two free throws in the closing seconds to give the Tar Heels their largest lead of the game, the final margin of 45 pints.

Nine players scored in the game, with 12 seeing action. After Bailey's 11 rebounds, five players had four or more, with freshman Nia Daniel grabbing five to go with her nine points.

Bailey, who was picked for the Preseason All-ACC team, shined on defense as well, with three blocks and two steals to go with her 8-for-14 shooting, 11 rebounds (including seven on the defensive glass), two assists and just one foul.

"I give a lot of credit to Janelle – starting the game we had a tough time getting it inside and she just kept going," Banghart said. "Look at that stat line. If she continues to have a stat line like that, the team will grow around her in a good way."

The next opportunity to show off that growth comes in five days. For tickets, click here.

"We want to be able to defend and rebound," Banghart said. "We outrebounded them and I thought there were moments of growth defensively. Each game we've got to get a tiny bit better and I thought today was our first start at that."