The No. 13 UNC women’s basketball had no trouble against South Carolina State in Carmichael Arena Wednesday, easily dispatching the Bulldogs 93-25.
Junior guard Deja Kelly missed her first game as a Tar Heel, sitting out as a precaution after sustaining an ankle injury earlier in the season. Sophomore Destiny Adams started in her place, and made her first collegiate start one to remember. After scoring 10 points against TCU last weekend, Adams more than doubled that output with a career-high 23 points on 10-14 shooting in just 21 minutes.
Joining Adams in double figures were all four of the other Carolina starters. Alyssa Ustby tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double in three games, and contributed to a dominating effort on the glass by the Tar Heels. They outrebounded the Bulldogs 67-23.
There was another Tar Heel to reach the 10-point plateau: redshirt freshman Teonni Key. The five-star recruit made her collegiate debut after missing all of her true freshman season with a knee injury, and made the minutes count. Key notched 13 points on 4-8 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out three assists and blocked two shots in a stat sheet-stuffing performance. She played 19 minutes.
Overall, UNC allowed South Carolina State to score 10 or more points in just one of the game’s four quarters. The opening period was particularly impressive, as Carolina ended the first 10 minutes leading 32-1.
Yes, you read that right.
South Carolina State did not make a shot in the first quarter, while UNC shot a blazing 13-21 (62 percent) from the floor. Adams and junior forward Anya Poole combined to shoot 6-6 in the period. Poole finished with 11 points.
UNC is now 3-0 on the young season, having won its games by an average of 42 points. But Wednesday was the team’s last home game until early December, as the Tar Heels will visit James Madison this coming Sunday before traveling out to Oregon for the Phil Knight Invitational the week of Thanksgiving. The following week will see Carolina visit Indiana in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge before finally returning to Chapel Hill on December 7.
Featured image via Jordan on Twitter
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