There will be five new faces taking the Carmichael Arena floor for North Carolina’s women’s basketball team this season. But UNC’s veterans won’t have to wait until the fall to get a feel for their new teammates.
On July 29, the 31-member traveling party flew from Washington, D.C., to Prague, kicking off a 10-day international trip that took the Tar Heels to basketball courts in three European countries.
The new players left with a strong sense of UNC’s fast-paced style of play and returned with three victories.
“It helps the freshmen a lot because they’re getting used to playing with us,” Tierra Ruffin-Pratt said. “It’s good on both sides because we had a lot of injuries, and for them to be able to step up and play as well as they did is good for us.”
Ruffin-Pratt and forward Waltiea Rolle each had 29 points, leading UNC to a 107-60 win against Sparta Prague on July 31.
Later in the trip the Tar Heels topped the Hungarian U-20 team, 70-49 and Vienna, an Austrian Club team, 109-45.
Ruffin-Pratt narrowly missed a triple-double in the final game, with eight steals, eight assists and 10 points.
UNC takes an international trip every four years, so for many Tar Heels, the competition was their first international basketball experience.
The competition UNC will face this season will likely be stronger than what they saw overseas. But for senior Krista Gross, the biggest takeaway from the trip was the time she got to spend with her team.
