UNC Basketball: Courtney Banghart, Tar Heels improve to 5-0

UNC women’s basketball program improves to 5-0 with narrow victory over Charlotte

Stephanie Watts led North Carolina with 17 points against Charlotte, and the Tar Heels beat the 49ers by a final score of 81-75 at Carmichael Arena on Sunday.

Watts hit 4-of-8 shots from the floor, 2-of-6 from three-point range and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. She also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists to just one turnover in 34 minutes of play. Petra Holešínská scored13 points, and had a team-high five assists, while freshman guard Alyssa Ustby added 13 points of her own on 5-of-9 shooting and 1-of-2 from beyond the arc.

https://twitter.com/uncwbb/status/1335726130746286080

Another freshman guard, Deja Kelly, scored 11 points on her toughest shooting game of the season to this point. She connected on just 3-of-11 shots for the game, and committed eight turnovers in 27 minutes. Senior center Janelle Bailey gave the Tar Heels nine points and six rebounds.

North Carolina shot 23-for-51 (45 percent) for the game, including a solid 10-for-24 mark from three-point range, but converted just 25-of-37 attempts from the free throw line. They outrebounded the 49ers by five, and committed 13 fewer personal fouls. They committed 16 turnovers, however, in what turned out to be their toughest test over the season’s first two weeks.

Octavia Jett-Wilson led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, and 3-of-4 from long-range. Two other 49ers, Jada McMillian and Mariah Linney, scored double-digit points for the game, giving Charlotte 15 and 11 points, respectively. They shot 43 percent as a team for the game, and had the same percentage from three-point range as the Tar Heels (41.6).

The undefeated Tar Heels begin their Atlantic Coast Conference slate on Thursday with a matchup against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for coverage of that game, and everything else UNC basketball.