Tar Heels Roll Past Virginia In First ACC Road Game

Thursday, January 2

Charlottesville, Va.

7 PM

North Carolina

11-2,2-0ACC

Virginia

5-8,0-2ACC

North Carolina

Virginia

Photo by: UVA MEDIA RELATIONS

January 2, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Watch Highlights Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The UNC women's basketball team pulled away with a 25-point second quarter and sailed on to its first Atlantic Coast Conference road win of the season, 65-47 at Virginia on Thursday evening. At John Paul Jones Arena, all five Tar Heel starters hit double figures as Carolina (11-2, 2-0 ACC) won its ACC road opener for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

Up next for UNC is another conference road game, on Sunday at Virginia Tech. Game time at Cassell Coliseum is 2 p.m.

Against Virginia, junior Janelle Bailey led UNC with 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Senior Madinah Muhammad added 11, eight of which came in a span of just over a minute during UNC's second-quarter run. Senior Shayla Bennett, senior Taylor Koenen and freshman Malu Tshitenge finished with 10 points each.

"We stressed sharing the ball and working together to get good shots, and I think the fact we had 17 assists demonstrates that we did that," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "Defensively we knew we needed to close down the lanes and work together to limit Jocelyn Willoughby, who is the leading scorer in the ACC. And I thought we had good output on both ends in that regard."

Willoughby finished with 12 points, seven below her average. Lisa Jablonowski and Shemera Williams also scored 12 points each to lead Virginia.

The Tar Heels hit eight three-pointers in the game, with six coming in the second quarter when they were 9-19 (47.4 percent) from the field and 6-11 (54.4) from three. Meanwhile the Cavaliers went 3-for-13 and scored just six points in that period, equaling the lowest total in a quarter by a UNC opponent this season. After Virginia outscored UNC 16-11 in the first quarter, the Tar Heels held a 25-6 advantage in the second to lead 36-22 at halftime.

UNC stretched its lead to 22, 53-31, on a three-pointer by Koenen with 2:16 to play in the third quarter. That proved to be the Tar Heels' largest advantage of the game. In the fourth quarter the Cavaliers made a run to cut the margin to 12, but they got no closer.

Carolina had 12 steals, one shy of equaling the season high. The Tar Heels led 22-7 in points off turnovers and 12-4 in second-chance points.

"Every win in the ACC is a tough one – our players know that better than me," Banghart said. "To go on the road and play a team that has played the best schedule in the country is hard. We knew it was going to be a fight on every possession and it was."