UNC WBB Beats App State to Stay Undefeated

After 25 days on the road, Stephanie Mavunga led sixth-ranked North Carolina to an 84-52 win to continue the Heels’ undefeated streak against Appalachian State Sunday afternoon in Carmichael Arena. Carolina is now 9-0 behind Mavunga’s 19 points and 9 rebounds. Appalachian State has now fallen to 3-4 on the season.

Even with the blowout win, Carolina suffered from behind the three-point arc with a 26.3 percent success rate and no shots made in the second half at all. Mavunga stepped in as the Tar Heel’s go-to offensive threat, much to the liking of Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell.

Practices have been very abbreviated, we haven’t been doing as many shooting sessions in the last week to ten days,” Coach Hatchell said. “Also we went inside a lot too and Stephanie was able to get going inside there but we’ll keep working on it.”

Carolina didn’t quite start the game in its typical quick-scoring fashion, as poor offensive possessions and a traveling violation by sophomore Stephanie Mavunga stifled UNC from clenching a solid lead.

After UNC switched into a full court pressure defense and freshman Jamie Cherry hit consecutive three-pointers, the Tar Heels were finally given a big jump.

But Carolina would soon be hit with a scare, as UNC sophomore and leading scorer Allisha Gray drove to the basket and collapsed in pain, seeming to have rolled her right ankle. After moments of silence in Carmichael Arena, Gray limped off with a bit of assistance from Coach Hatchell.

“I was really panicking,” Mavunga said. “I saw her go down and at first I thought ‘okay, she’ about to come back up,’ but I just started saying my prayers and I had a lot of faith in her so I was so happy when I saw her get up.”

“The reason I went out there is because I saw it when her foot hit the (floor) upright and it turned. That really concerned me, because it didn’t look good,” Coach Hatchell also chimed in.

Carolina had no problem while Gray was out, however, with big help from their bench. A big three from Megan Buckland and a strong block from Hillary Summers) extended UNC to a 20-point lead midway through the first half.

The Mountaineers gained some momentum and capitalized on the Heels’ mistakes to go on an 11-5 run before the half ended with a 46-27 UNC lead.

The game’s second half looked a lot like the first, even though the Mountaineers had a much better offensive game but couldn’t close Carolina’s wide scoring margin.

App State shot 33 percent from behind the arc in the opening minutes of the second half and was led by senior forward Mariah Syndor who finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Notable players from UNC include Gray with 12 points and four rebounds and senior Latifah Coleman and junior N’Dea Bryant who finished with 9 points apiece.

Carolina will host Oregon State on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

FINAL BOX SCORE

UNC WBB Beats App State to Stay Undefeated

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