UNC women's basketball runs past Mount Olive in exhibition finale

The jitters are gone. North Carolina is ready to run.

Following a sloppy affair against Wingate, No. 22 UNC mounted a 42-point halftime lead en route to a 99-45 exhibition win over Mount Olive.

And after generating 29 turnovers against Wingate, the Tar Heels forced Mount Olive into 38 miscues on Monday — converting the Trojans' turnovers into 41 points of their own.

First-year guard Destinee Walker and sophomore guard Jamie Cherry led the charge with remarkably similar lines, each tallying 23 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The backcourt's third dynamic guard — first-year Stephanie Watts — struggled from the floor, shooting 4-for-13 and sinking just one of her five 3-point attempts.

But the trio combined for 14 of the team's 23 steals and accounted for all five of UNC's shots from beyond the arc.

"They're going to all be really good playing together, all three of those," Coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "They'll just complement each other."

Six Tar Heels finished the game with double-digit scoring figures, while nine players hit the court for North Carolina in its exhibition finale.

And with the season opener four days away, Hatchell has few doubts about her team heading into the 2015-16 campaign.

"They're going to be in shape," she said. "No doubt about that."

Quotable

"We’ve got three excellent perimeter players that can score, they can shoot threes, they’ve got handles, they can drive. They’re just very skilled guards and they’re very intelligent, too. As they get more time playing together, they’ll learn each other even better." —  Hatchell on the backcourt combination of Cherry, Walker and Watts.

Notable

After playing 26 minutes in UNC's exhibition opener against Wingate, senior Xylina McDaniel remained on the bench with a walking boot on Monday. Hatchell said the forward was sidelined for precautionary reasons with a calf injury, unrelated to her Achilles injury from a season ago. McDaniel missed the final 24 games of the 2014-15 season after getting injured on Dec. 21 against Elon.

Three numbers that matter

31: Points off turnovers for the Tar Heels in the first half —  while Mount Olive mustered 18 total points by the break. The Trojans failed to convert a turnover into points in the first half and scored just two such points the entire contest.

3: 3-pointers made by Walker — two more than UNC's total in its win over Wingate. Against the Bulldogs, Walker went 1-for-7 from beyond the arc, making UNC's only 3-pointer in 22 attempts.

14: Free-throw attempts for Cherry against the Trojans. The guard challenged the Mount Olive defense all night, drawing fouls in the backcourt and hitting the floor with reckless abandon.

What's next?

UNC will open its regular season at home against Gardner-Webb at 4 p.m. on Friday.

@CJacksonCowart

sports@dailytarheel.com