UNC Basketball: Tar Heel women beat up on Appalachian State

The UNC basketball women’s program took no prisoners in an 89-44 blowout victory over the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Wednesday night.

North Carolina sophomore guard Deja Kelly scored a game-high and season-high 18 points on Wednesday night, and the Tar Heels topped the Appalachian State Mountaineers by a final score of 89-44 at Carmichael Arena.

After struggling through a 3-for-14 shooting performance against Charlotte on Sunday, Kelly connected on 7-of-15 in Wednesday’s game. She was 3-for-6 from three-point range and 1-for-1 at the free throw line to go along with three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Kelly has notched double-digit points in each of the Tar Heels’ first three games of the season, a stretch that has seen them beat their opponents by no less than 45 points in any one game.

UNC sophomore forward Anya Poole got into double-digit points for the second consecutive game, scoring 16 on 8-for-12 shooting from the floor, as well as hauling in four rebounds and blocking three shots. Courtney Banghart’s Tar Heels also got 10 points a piece from a pair of freshman reserves in Morasha Wiggins and Destiny Adams. They combined to hit 7-of-12 shots for the game, and provided a nice spark off the North Carolina bench.

The Tar Heels shot 43 percent for the game (37-for-86), and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc (7-for-21). They struggled at the free throw line where they converted just 8-of-16 attempts, and turned the ball over 17 times for the game, but they outrebounded the Mountaineers by 22 and came up with 15 steals and six blocks.

The Mountaineers didn’t have a single player in double-digit points for the game, and hit less than 24 percent of their shots overall (15-for-63). They were even worse from long-range, where they connected on just 17.5 percent of their attempts (7-of-40). They had just 10 assists to their 28 turnovers, and committed 22 fouls that put their opponent on the line 16 times. The Mountaineers’ loss to North Carolina was their first of the season.

North Carolina, now 3-0 on the young season, will prepare for a Sunday afternoon game against the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for coverage of that game, and all the latest on the UNC basketball men’s and women’s programs throughout the season.