The North Carolina women’s basketball defeated UCLA 83-49 on Thursday in the first game of the Paradise Jam Tournament.
What happened?
UNC (4-1) took an early lead in the first quarter. Paris Kea hit a three pointer for the first shot for the Tar Heels, after going 0-3 in the last outing against Colorado. Despite not shooting well, the Bruins scored 10 of their 19 points off of free throws in the first quarter to keep the game within six.
However, the shooting woes of UCLA inevitably caught up with the team, as it wouldn’t get a chance at the free throw line again until halfway through the third quarter. A lack of offense and trouble on defense allowed North Carolina to run up the lead to 14 by the end of the first half. A strong third quarter that saw UNC go on a 17-2 run early on to firmly take control of the game. From there North Carolina cruised to an easy victory.
The major difference in the game, besides UCLA’s poor shooting performance, was turning defense into offense. North Carolina scored 26 points off of turnovers, while UCLA scored just nine. At the end of the day, despite out rebounding North Carolina on the offensive board 19-6, the Bruins just couldn’t generate enough offense to keep up with the Tar Heels’ firepower.
Who stood out?
Janelle Bailey had her second double-double in a row, scoring 20 points and bringing down 10 rebounds. The second-year center is averaging 18 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, both team highs, through five games this season. The reigning ACC Freshman of the year was one of the sole bright spots for the Tar Heels in their loss against Colorado, and continued her strong play against the Bruins.
Paris Kea, the team’s second leading scorer, had a bounce-back game after a poor performance against Colorado, scoring 15 points and dishing out a team high 5 assists in 28 minutes of play.
