North Carolina 95, ETSU 62
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Sophomore guard Shamauria Bridges scored a team-high 14 points while freshman point guard Tianna Tarter totaled 12 points and a career-high eight assists in a 95-62 setback to the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday afternoon inside Carmichael Arena.
With the loss, ETSU drops to 8-7 on the season while UNC improves to 13-1 on the year.
In each teams’ final non-conference matchup of the season, the Bucs came out energized and hung around with the nationally-ranked Tar Heels for the first four minutes of the opening period. After trailing, 5-4, with 16:30 to go in the first half, the Blue & Gold put together a 7-0 surge over the next two minutes to pull ahead. UNC then answered with a 10-0 run and even built up four-point advantage prior to the Bucs answering again to even up the score. The two teams traded baskets over the next four minutes before UNC accumulated another streak to lead, 26-19, with seven minutes to go in the opening half. ETSU continued to show fight and kept within striking distance prior to the Tar Heels scoring six points in the final 36 seconds including UNC’s Jamie Cherry burying a half-court heave at the buzzer to bring the home team’s advantage to 43-32 going into halftime.
Riding some momentum from their end of the half flurry, the Tar Heels scored the first 10 points of the second period and the rout was on. The Blue & Gold had no answer on the inside with UNC scoring 34 points in the paint and turning 10 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points during the half. Additionally, the Tar Heels continued to roll in scorers with their bench totaling 29 points in the second period. The Bucs were able to apply some defensive pressure and got 10 points off of five UNC turnovers in the half. Ultimately, ETSU was unable to combat the Tar Heels’ wealth of talent and depth and dropped a 95-62 decision.
UNC forward Stephanie Mavunga scored a game-high 26 points on 13-of-14 shooting and also nearly recorded a double-double with nine rebounds. The Tar Heels also had three additional players in double figures; guard Cherry with 13, guard Alisha Gray with 10 and guard Jessica Washington also with 10. Meanwhile, for the Bucs, Bridges’ team-high point total included four made three-pointers and senior forward Destiny Mitchell almost notched her fourth double-double of the season with eight points and a team-best nine rebounds. Moreover, senior forward Serena Clark stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks.
Over the course of the game, the Tar Heels dominated in the paint with 56 points and got 49 points from their loaded bench. UNC also shot the ball very efficiently at 57 percent (40-of-70) and scored 28 points off of 19 offensive rebounds as well as capitalized with 23 points off of 18 ETSU miscues.
The Blue & Gold shot the ball at a 38 percent clip for the game and assisted on 17 of its 24 made baskets. The Bucs also scored 16 points off of 13 home team turnovers and got 12 points from their bench. Furthermore, ETSU totaled 31 rebounds including 17 offensive.
The Bucs will begin league play when it faces Southern Conference foe Furman on Jan. 10 in Greenville, South Carolina.
NJIT 76, Wofford 50
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College women’s basketball team hoped to open the 2015 calendar year with better results, as the team dropped a 76-50 decision to visiting NJIT on Friday afternoon in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
The understaffed Terriers entered the game at a disadvantage. Due to injuries and sickness, only eight players made appearances in the contest, and the heavy minutes wore on the Wofford squad in the end.
Wofford (3-10) held the Highlanders to just a six point lead headed into the locker rooms at half. Wofford shot 41.7 percent from the field on 10-of-24 shooting and limited NJIT’s star guard Alyssa Albanese to just seven points.
The final 20 minutes was a different story. NJIT (6-10) shot 55.2 percent from the field in the second half, knocking down 16-of-29 from the field, including 6-of-11 from deep (54.5 percent). The Terriers, conversely, shot just 34.6 percent in the second and went 2-of-8 from 3-point range.
Jordan Frazier led all scorers, netting 22 in the Wofford loss. The game marks Frazier’s third straight scoring 20 or more for the Terriers. Kentra Washington also scored in double figures for Wofford with 13 points. NJIT’s Nicole Matica led the Highlander’s scoring with 19 points, while Albanese ended the game with 18 points and eight assists.
The Terriers have a few days to recoup before heading to Durham, North Carolina where they will take on NC Central. The game is set for 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Hawai'i 74, UNCG 54
HONOLULU, Hawaii – The UNCG women’s basketball team fell behind and couldn’t recover falling to Hawai’i, 74-54, in its final non-conference game of the season Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Spartans finish the non-conference slate with a 5-10 record having lost three straight while the Rainbow Wahine improve to 8-5 with the victory.
Three players scored in double-figures with junior guard Lucy Mason scoring 17 second half points on 6-of-17 shooting in the contest. Senior guard Jessica Collins added 12 points off 5-of-16 from the field with five rebounds. Classmate Jarae Savage finished with 10 points and five rebounds.
The Blue and Gold had a much better second half scoring 37 points and shot 31 percent on 13-of-42 shooting. UNCG only had seven turnovers in the second frame and forced 23 miscues for the Rainbow Wahine. The Spartans also had 13 steals in the loss but the first half deficit was too much to overcome.
Hawai’i won the rebounding battle grabbing 51 boards (20 offensive) while UNCG was held to 40 rebounds (20 offensive). The Rainbow Wahine took 29 free throws making 20 in the victory and held a 40-to-22 advantage in points in the paint.
In the second half, Hawai’i led by 23 points after a jumper from Sarah Toeaina to make the score 45-22 with 16:53 remaining. Mason would score 10 of the next 12 points but the Rainbow Wahine still led 53-31 at the 13:03 mark.
Hawai’i would lead by 29 points before UNCG cut the advantage to 20 after a made free throw by sophomore India Timpton to make it 65-45 with under five minutes left. Each team would finish with nine points as a jumper by sophomore Mariah Wilson would make the final tally 74-54.
Hawai’i took a 20-point advantage into halftime over UNCG as Savage led the team with seven points (3-of-7) off the bench. The Spartans shot 20 percent on 6-of-29 from the field and was 1-for-9 from the three-point line to fall behind.
The Rainbow Wahine took an early 11-4 lead off a layup from Morgan Mason with 15:02 remaining in the half. UNCG would answer with a 5-2 run capped by a fast break steal and layup from Savage to make the score 13-9 at the 12:31 mark.
Over the next seven minutes, Hawai’i went on a 10-3 run to increase its lead to 23-12 as Shawna-Lei Kuehu had six points in the run. Collins hit a three-point to cut the lead to 23-15 with under five minutes left in the period.
Hawai’i ended the half on a 14-2 burst to push its lead to 20 points and gave UNCG its lowest point total in a half this season.
The Blue and Gold return home for a two-game homestand starting Southern Conference action with Samford Jan. 10 at 2 p.m. at Fleming Gymnasium.