The North Carolina women’s basketball team defeated Radford 79-46 on Thursday night in a sloppy affair that saw 41 combined turnovers. The win improved UNC’s record to 2-1 on the season.
What happened?
After scoring 52 points in her first two games for the Tar Heels (2-1), redshirt junior guard Paris Kea put her team up 2-0 over Radford (1-1) on an acrobatic inbounds play just 33 seconds into the game. Kea leapt into the air, grabbed the ball and swiftly deposited it through the hoop for the score.
Kea scored again to put the Tar Heels back up 6-5 after a Radford three gave the Highlanders a brief lead. Kea then distributed the ball on the next Tar Heel possession, dishing the rock inside to first-year center Janelle Bailey, who turned and banked in a layup.
Jamie Cherry extended UNC’s lead later in the first quarter, driving to the basket and dishing the ball off to Bailey who converted another layup for the five-point edge. After the Highlanders countered with another three, Kea hit a sixteen-foot jumper to put UNC up 12-8. On the next possession the Tar Heels passed the ball around the perimeter before finding sophomore guard Taylor Koenen for an open three.
With the Tar Heels up by six later in the quarter, Bailey used her strength to fend off a defender, then in one motion grabbed the ball, turned and banked in a layup. The Highlanders missed their last six shots of the opening frame, and the Tar Heels took a 19-9 edge into the second quarter.
North Carolina quickly extended its lead to 12 points in the second after a converted turnaround jumper from first-year forward Jaelynn Murray. Radford continued its woeful shooting, missing seven straight shots to start the quarter as UNC opened up a 27-9 lead.
With 3:19 left in the half, the Highlanders scored their first points of the quarter to make it a 16-point game. The basket spurred a 6-0 run from Radford before Cherry broke the UNC scoring drought with consecutive made free throws. The teams traded points in the last minute and UNC took a 31-17 lead into halftime.
Bailey started the second half with five points in the first three minutes, inspiring a 10-4 UNC run that pushed the lead to 20. However, a 6-0 Radford run cut the deficit to 14 with just 5:37 left in the third, causing head coach Sylvia Hatchell to burn a timeout. A pair of made free throws from Radford with 3:48 left in the third cut the UNC lead to 11.
