UNC Women’s Basketball cruises to victory over UNCW

In a full team effort, the UNC women’s basketball program cruised to a victory over UNCW on Wednesday night in Chapel Hill.

Experimenting.

That’s the best word to describe what Courtney Banghart and the UNC women’s basketball program did on Wednesday night.

Returning to the court for the first time since their loss against Indiana on December 1, the Tar Heels defended the home court by putting together a 22-point victory over UNCW.

Leading by just six after the end of the first quarter, North Carolina pulled away and held a comfortable lead throughout. With this lead in place, Banghart was able to experiment by mixing and matching to utilize each of her healthy players.

After playing all 40 minutes against the Hoosiers, Eva Hodgson (27 minutes) and Deja Kelly (23 minutes) saw a much lighter workload in this contest. In total, 9 Tar Heels saw 12 minutes of action or more, while 11 players played more than five minutes.

In just 23 minutes of action, Alyssa Ustby put together her 18th career double-double, as she scored a team-high 16 points while hauling in 10 rebounds. After a rough performance against Indiana, the junior standout bounced back in a very nice way, making eight of her 10-shot attempts from the floor.

Kennedy Todd-Williams (12 points) and Kelly (10 points) were the other two Tar Heels in double-figures, as all but one UNC women’s basketball player did not score against UNCW.

Destiny Adams put together a strong overall performance, as she did a little of everything in the win. She had seven points, four rebounds, four steals, three assists, and two blocks over 22 minutes off the bench.

This game also marked the return of Ariel Young, who missed all of last season due to injury. Young was inserted into the game for the first time in the third quarter and played a total of six minutes in her season debut.

For the UNC women’s basketball program, you have to not only be pleased by the performance but excited that so many players contributed in a positive way. As they have Final Four aspirations, it’s safe to say that the Tar Heels will need steady production from its depth if they wish to accomplish their season goals.

North Carolina will return to the floor on Sunday afternoon, as they’ll host Wofford for a 1:00 PM tip-off.

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