While North Carolina fans anxiously watched the football team clinch a trip to the ACC Championship, Destinee Walker and the North Carolina women’s basketball were busy taking care of business.
The Tar Heels won their second game at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge against the Iona Gaels 64-52 on Saturday inside Carmichael Arena.
While Jamie Cherry struggled — only recording seven points — Walker and Stephanie Watts, both first-year guards, led the way for UNC.
Watts got North Carolina going early by scoring eight of the Tar Heels’ first 10 points, to help push it to a 14-4 lead at the first stoppage of play. She also contributed on the defensive end with a team-high four steals in the game.
Cherry played her first game with a protective facemask after breaking her nose, and never found her rhythm. She finished with just seven points, which all came from the free-throw line.
With the Tar Heels in need of a player to step up big, it was Walker who answered the call.
Walker got hot, scoring nine in a row in the second quarter, and finished the game with 25 points including five 3-pointers. Through the Tar Heels first five games, Walker has reached double digits in each game.
Walker was a below-average 3-point shooter coming into Saturday’s contest, but she turned things around finishing an impressive 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Iona outscored UNC 14-12 in the third quarter to cut the game to single digits, but a strong final ten minutes of play by the Tar Heels allowed them to close the game out.
