First ACC Win In the Books As UNC Beats Visiting Pitt

Monday, December 30

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2 PM

North Carolina

Pittsburgh

Taylor Koenen dives for a loose ball in UNC's win over Pitt on Monday.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

December 30, 2019 | Women's Basketball

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By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina women's basketball team kicked off Atlantic Coast Conference play with a victory Monday, beating Pitt 70-62 at Carmichael Arena. With the win, UNC is 10-2 overall and 1-0 in ACC play. The Panthers fell to 3-9 (0-1).

Senior guard Madinah Muhammad led UNC with 20 points and a season-high eight rebounds. Senior guard Taylor Koenen added 16 points and nine rebounds, and junior center Janelle Bailey had 10 points and eight boards.

"I have great respect for this conference and all the coaches in this conference, and I know that every single ACC win is a good win," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "I thought our team showed a lot of resilience. We didn't play well enough to feel great about it, but we feel good about any win in the ACC."

The game was UNC's second of four in an eight-day span. Next up is a roadtrip to Virginia, where the Tar Heels will play two more ACC games, visiting UVa on Thursday and Virginia Tech on Sunday before returning to Carmichael to host NC State on Jan. 9.

Coming off a loss in their most recent outing, on Saturday against Yale, the Tar Heels trailed early by as many as six as the Panthers jumped out to a 10-4 lead at the 6:35 mark of the first quarter. A three-pointer by Koenen tied the game at 12-12 just over two minutes later and UNC stretched its lead to four, 18-14, by the end of the quarter.

Pitt used a 7-0 run early in the second quarter to pull ahead by one, 21-20, but that was the Panthers' last lead of the game. UNC built a nine-point advantage by halftime, 43-34, and the visitors never got closer than six after that.

UNC as many as 17 in the fourth quarter, the final time with 3:49 to play before the Panthers closed the gap late. Aysia Bugg had 11 points for Pitt, and Dayshanette Harris came off the bench to match that. Cara Judkins added 10, and Amber Brown led her team with 13 rebounds.

Carolina won the rebounding battle 47-39, including a 14-10 advantage on the offensive boards that led to a 20-11 advantage in second-chance points. After scoring a season-low 63 points in the loss to Yale, UNC had its second-lowest scoring day on Monday with 70.