With Latifah Coleman starting at point guard in place of Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, who is still recovering from a concussion sustained against Tennessee, it took North Carolina a few possessions to find their sea legs.
UNC committed nine turnovers in the first 9:22, and 16 during the first half, but still managed to take a 23-point lead into the locker room.
Waltiea Rolle’s 13 points led the Tar Heels, who shot 43 percent from the field and were 6-9 from the foul stripe.
Krista Gross pulled down 11 first-half rebounds.
But it wasn’t a pretty half for either team. The first 20 minutes featured more fouls — 17 — than baskets — 16.
UNC struggled early on to get the ball into the paint. Radford’s defenders did well to strip the ball from the Tar Heel’s bigs and get in passing lanes near the baseline.
But once UNC became more aggressive driving the ball inside, Radford, a smaller team, could do little to stop the Tar Heels from getting to the basket.
The Highlanders, on the other hand, barely cracked double figures in points or shooting percentage. Radford’s 10 points came four free throws and three-for-29 shooting from the field — 10.3 percent.
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