CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – In its first road trip in nearly a month, the Western Carolina women's basketball team was unable to come out on the winning side on Friday night as the Catamounts suffered a 96-36 defeat to #25/24 North Carolina at Carmichael Arena.
Senior Audrey Meyers led the offensive attack for WCU with 13 points connecting on 6-of-10 field goals. Chelsea Wooten added eight points, connecting on a pair of threes while adding four rebounds to her stat line. Lonasia Brewer led the way for Western Carolina on the glass with seven rebounds and six points. Zanoria Cruz finished with a team-high four assists while scoring seven points.
The Tar Heels were led offensively by Alyssa Ustby who scored a game-high 23 points, adding nine rebounds and six assists. Ustby also led the hosts with four steals. Paulina Paris finished with 16 points, while Indya Nivar had 15 points for North Carolina. Maria Gakdeng finished with 10 points and Teonni Key had a game-high 10 rebounds.
"It was a challenging night tonight for us, we were without five players due to various factors and those five are all guards," commented head coach Kiley Hill. "We will regroup and recalibrate and live to fight another day on Monday back at home against Murray State."
North Carolina (7-4) got a fast start on Friday, scoring the first nine points of the game before a Meyers jumper allowed the Catamounts to get on the board. The hosts used a 17-4 run over the final five minutes to stretch the advantage to 26-6 after the first quarter.
Both teams traded mini spurts in the opening minutes of the second quarter before an 11-4 run from Western Carolina (2-9) cut the deficit to 16, 35-19 with 4:22 to play in the first half. The Tar Heels answered WCU's run, though, closing the half with a 10-2 burst that allowed the Heels to take a 45-21 lead to the intermission.
The Tar Heels opened the second half on a 14-4 run that extended their lead to 59-25 with 4:50 to play in the third quarter. UNC was able to close the quarter on a 9-2 spurt to take the advantage to the fourth quarter. North Carolina began the final frame on a 15-3 run en route to claiming the nonconference victory.
The Tar Heels posted a 51.9% (40-of-77) field goal performance while limiting Western Carolina to 31.4% (16-of-51). UNC connected on six threes compared to three from beyond the arc for WCU, while the home squad was 10-of-15 from the free throw line while the Catamounts made their lone attempt. North Carolina won the battle of the boards by 26 including a 15-board edge on the offensive glass, and outscored the Catamounts 58-8 points in the paint.
The Catamounts return home for the final time before the holidays with a 2 p.m. tip on Monday, Dec. 18, against Murray State from Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. The Racers hold a 6-2 record on the season as they earned a nonconference victory over Little Rock on Thursday. The matchup with Murray State will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats and live audio through the Catamount Sports Network available on CatamountSports.com.
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