UNC Basketball: Tar Heel women roll to victory in blowout fashion

The UNC women’s basketball program earned its 18th victory of the season on Sunday afternoon, blowing out the Miami Hurricanes by 47 points.

The North Carolina Tar Heels picked up their second consecutive victory in an 85-38 rout of the Miami Hurricanes at Carmichael Arena. In doing so, they moved to 8-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference play and are currently in sole possession of sixth-place.

The Tar Heels got contributions from a number of places, including double-digit scoring efforts from four players. Deja Kelly was one of them, as the sophomore guard got out of her recent offensive slump with a game-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists.

Kelly connected on 6-of-15 shots for the game and 4-of-9 from three-point range. It was a welcomed sight for Kelly and the Tar Heels after she struggled through a four-game stretch that saw her score just 25 points while shooting 8-for-49 from the floor and 1-for-13 beyond the arc.

Kennedy Todd-Williams had another solid game, giving the Tar Heels 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting for the game and 2-for-5 from long-range. Second-year guard Alyssa Ustby had an 11-point, 10-rebound performance, and hit all but one of her six shots, while Anya Poole added 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Tar Heels shot 44.4 percent (28-for-63) as a team and 31 percent 9-for-29) from downtown. They made a living at the free throw line, converting 20-of-21 for a scorching 95.2 percent for the game. They outrebounded the Hurricanes by 19, 13 of which came on the offensive end of the court, which resulted in a number of second-chance points.

Miami got double-digit scoring out of one player, Kelsey Marshall, who notched 15 points for the game. That was three more points than the rest of the starting lineup and four more than the entire bench combined. As a team, the Hurricanes shot just 22.7 percent (15-for-66) overall and 16 percent (4-for-25) from three. They committed 18 costly turnovers against the Tar Heels and got whistled for 24 personal fouls.

The loss drops Miami to 12-9 on the season and 5-6 in conference play. They currently sit in ninth-place in the ACC, 2.5 games back from the Tar Heels.

North Carolina will be back on the court on Thursday night for a home game against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for coverage of that game as well as everything on the UNC basketball program.