UNC Guts Out Win Over Missouri To Improve To 6-0

Friday, November 29

Cancun, Mex.

6:30 PM ET

North Carolina

6-0,0-0ACC

Missouri

2-6,0-0SEC

North Carolina

Missouri

Taylor Koenen and the Tar Heels are 6-0 after a win over Missouri on Friday. (Photo: Triple Crown Sports)

November 29, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Watch Highlights

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CANCUN, Mexico – The UNC women's basketball team led wire-to-wire Friday to earn an 82-69 win over Missouri in Cancun Challenge play at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. All five Tar Heel starters scored in double figures as the team improved to 6-0, the program's best start since 2014.

Senior Madinah Muhammad led all scorers with 24 points, reaching a new UNC high for the second game in a row. A first-year Tar Heel player after sitting out last year as a transfer, she scored 20 on Thursday night as Carolina beat Temple 71-58 in its first game of this event. After averaging 22 points and leading the Tar Heels in scoring in both games, she was named MVP of the six-team Riviera Division.

MVP status 😎😤😏 2️⃣2️⃣ PPG 6️⃣ RPG 6️⃣3️⃣% 3FG#InPursuit | #CancunHoops pic.twitter.com/DQJSiCgwBB
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) November 30, 2019

Junior Janelle Bailey finished with 20 points, including a perfect night – 8-for-8 – at the free throw line. Senior Shayla Bennett scored 16 points and handed out seven assists. Senior Taylor Koenen scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman Malu Tshitenge scored 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting and also had seven rebounds.

"To go on the road and play back-to-back games against two really gritty teams that are both really good programs, what a huge weekend for us," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "Our team defended with great toughness and accountability. On offense we played fearlessly and I think that was the key."

UNC will spend one more day in Mexico then travel home on Sunday and return to action Thursday, hosting Illinois at Carmichael Arena.

Against Missouri in their second game of the season away from Carmichael's friendly confines, the Tar Heels build a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter, when they led 23-13 behind 10 points from Bailey. In the second quarter, UNC extended the advantage to 17, 44-27, after a three-pointer by Muhammad with 1:59 to play.

Carolina led Carolina led 46-31 at halftime after shooting 53.6 percent from the field.

Down the stretch Missouri pulled within eight points on two occasions but got no closer.

The Tigers outrebounded the Tar Heels 36-32, converting 15 offensive boards into 16 second-chance points. It marked the second game in a row UNC had been outrebounded.

In the locker room after the game, Banghart asked her players what they thought the team needed to work on. "They all said rebounding, and they're right," she said "We're going to work on that next."

But they'll go back to work having withstood a challenge and maintained their undefeated record.

"We didn't do everything perfect," Muhammad said of her team's win on Friday, "but we executed and stayed true to the game plan, and we got the win."