Balanced Win Boosts Tar Heels To 8-0

Sunday, December 8

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2 PM

North Carolina

8-0,0-0ACC

NC Central

1-8,0-0MEAC

N.C. Central

North Carolina

Emily Sullivan came off the bench for nine points and nine rebounds in Sunday's win.

December 8, 2019 | Women's Basketball

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By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The UNC women's basketball team got points from 10 different players to match its season high in scoring in a 92-53 win over North Carolina Central Sunday afternoon at Carmichael Arena. Junior Janelle Bailey led the way with 19 points and 12 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season as Carolina improved to 8-0 overall. NCCU fell to 1-8 with the loss.

"It was kind of a tale of two halves," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "We came out pretty flat and I really challenged them at halftime to maintain our purpose in terms of 'us vs. them', and stay together and play with more energy on the defensive end, and they did that. Any time you get a win in college basketball, you're psyched about it. Any time you think you can get better from it, that's even better."

Next up for the Tar Heels is the team's first true road game of the season, next Sunday (Dec. 15) at Alabama. Tipoff in Tuscaloosa is 3 p.m. ET.

Against the NCCU Eagles in UNC's sixth home game of the season, senior Shayla Bennett and freshman Malu Tshitenge joined Bailey in double figures with 16 points. The Tar Heels got nine points each from senior Madinah Muhammad and redshirt junior Emily Sullivan, who came off the bench to grab a career-high nine rebounds to go with her season-high scoring total.

All 10 healthy Tar Heels saw action and all scored, capped by a late free throw from senior guard Liz Roberts. The bench erupted with seven seconds left to play when Roberts scored her first point of the season and the team's 92^nd of the game.

UNC started slowly and the score was tied 12-12 midway through the first quarter, but the Tar Heels used a 10-0 run to pull away and they led 22-14 heading into the second period. By halftime the lead was 43-28. Bailey opened the second half with a bucket to make it a 17-point UNC lead, and the Eagles were never again closer than that.

The only Tar Heel starter to play more than 30 minutes was Tshitenge, who played 33 and was joined on the court by the team's three other freshmen through much of the second half.

Paulina Afriyie led NCCU with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

UNC outrebounded the Eagles 50-32, including a 21-10 advantage on the offensive glass that the Tar Heels turned into 25 second-chance points. The Tar Heel bench accounted for a season-high 26 points, including six points each from freshman guards Lexi Duckett (for whom it was a career high) and Kennady Tucker.