By Beckett Brantley

CHAPEL HILL — No. 18 North Carolina moved to 11–3 on Sunday in an all-around win over Charleston Southern, led by season-highs of 19 points and six 3-pointers from freshman Nyla Brooks.

The Tar Heels weathered a run in the fourth quarter that brought CSU within 11 points, and ultimately pulled out a 93–74 victory at Carmichael Arena, scoring 11 3-pointers for the fourth consecutive game.

“We were trying to play our defense the best we could,” freshman guard Taissa Queiroz said. “We know what we can do and when we saw they started getting in their threes, we held together and we were trying to play the better defense and the fourth quarter was better.

UNC was missing sophomore guard Lanie Grant (flu), who is averaging 28 minutes and over nine points this season, but it didn’t affect the offense’s ability to score against the 2–10 Buccaneers, who rank 345 in the NET.

Brooks came off the bench in the first half and led the team with nine points in nine minutes. She started the second half and led the team in scoring. Brooks provided an answer from 3-point range, shooting 50% to counter CSU’s efficient 52%.

Brooks, whose previous season-highs were 18 points against UNCG and four 3-pointers four times, also led UNC with five defensive rebounds.

“I think [Brooks] is one of the best freshmen in the country,” UNC Coach Courtney Banghart said. “We’ve really asked for her to grow on the defensive end so that she can be a reliable player with the top group all the time and she’s made major strides.”

North Carolina took advantage of its matchups. Sophomore center Blanca Thomas (4 points, 12 minutes) and redshirt sophomore forward Ciera Toomey (9 points, 5 rebounds) had a considerable height advantage down low and used it to extend the lead in the first half.

The offense spread the wealth. Eleven Tar Heels played, and the fast-paced offense that UNC established was supported by 19 points off turnovers and good ball movement. The Tar Heels recorded a season-high 22 assists (previous high was 21 against South Dakota State and Kansas State).

“We practice this transition, getting out and communicating with each other,” Brooks said. “We practice this a lot. Five-on-0 in practice, just getting up and down the court in transition, getting to our secondaries.”

UNC left its starting lineup in for over half of the first quarter. The Tar Heels were pushing the pace in transition, going to senior forward Nyla Harris in the post, but the score was tied at 10 with about five minutes left in the first.

A Charleston Southern 3-pointer sandwiched by UNC turnovers gave the Buccaneers the lead, 13–11, but senior guard Indya Nivar (14 points, team-high 6 assists, 4 rebounds) scored her first points from downtown, and Brooks followed up from the corner to regain a four-point lead.

Four 3-pointers and seven fast-break points gave North Carolina a 23–13 lead after one quarter.

An 11-0 run culminated in a contested three from Brooks to extend the lead to 21 in the second quarter. Nine players scored on 63% shooting to give UNC a comfortable 50-25 lead at halftime.

Charleston Southern began the second half hot from beyond the arc. Guard Tyonna Bailey, who came off the bench, scored 10 points in the first five minutes, including two 3-pointers.

CSU had averaged almost 30 3-point attempts coming into the game, and UNC didn’t seem to have a defensive answer for the prolific outside shooting.

“Charleston Southern really shot the ball really, really well,” Banghart said. “We take pride in getting stops and we didn’t get enough of them today.”

But Queiroz’s offensive rebounding efforts fed 11 second-chance points in the third quarter, keeping the Tar Heels ahead 70–49. She recorded four rebounds in nine second-half minutes.

“Taissa was finally healthy and you’re seeing what we love about her,” Banghart said.

Banghart went back to a heavy-scoring lineup after an 11–2 Charleston Southern run to begin the fourth.

A CSU 3-pointer brought the deficit down to 11 about four minutes into the quarter, but junior guard Reniya Kelly tied her season-high eight points with a layup to go up 15.

Kelly, who had missed 21 consecutive field-goal attempts before going 4 of 12 Sunday, played 25 minutes in the win.

“She’s coming,” Banghart said. “The plan all along has been to bring her back in the full go of the second semester. She’s been really patient and stuck with the plan, and I’m looking forward to seeing what she does in ACC play.”

Sophomore guard Elina Aarnisalo, who finished with 16 points and four assists, put up a fast-break layup to seal the deal.

The Tar Heels went 11–2 in nonconference play, and a rigorous ACC slate is all that awaits them. They continue conference play on Dec. 28 at 8 p.m. (ACC Network) against Boston College (4–10) in Chestnut Hill.

No. 18 UNC 93, Charleston Southern 74

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 16 Louisville	2–0	12–3	14
N.C. State	2–0	9–4	28
Syracuse	1–0	11–1	41
Stanford	1–0	10–2	33
No. 20 Notre Dame	1–0	8–2	19
Virginia	1–0	9–3	30
Duke	1–0	6–6	32
Wake Forest	1–1	10–3	122
Virginia Tech	1–1	11–3	53
Clemson	1–1	8–4	47
Miami	1–1	8–4	48
No. 18 North Carolina	0–1	11–3	16
California	0–1	8–4	69
Pittsburgh	0–1	7–6	2270
SMU	0–1	6–6	155
Boston College	0–1	4–10	207
Florida State	0–2	5–9	127
Georgia Tech	0–2	4–9	128

* — Through Thursday games
Saturday’s games
No. 16 Louisville 89, No. 17 Tennessee 65
Virginia 88, Winthrop 53
Florida State 77, South Carolina State 36
Duke 76, Belmont 46
Sunday’s games
No. 18 North Carolina 93, Charleston Southern 74
Virginia Tech 79, Radford 47
N.C. State 68, Davidson 49
Miami 85, Kennesaw State 55
Pittsburgh at Duquesne, 1 p.m., ESPN+
North Florida at Clemson, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Bellarmine at No. 20 Notre Dame, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Southern at SMU, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Oregon vs. Stanford in San Francisco, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 19 USC vs. California in San Francisco, 8:30, ESPN
Monday’s game
Gardner-Webb at Wake Forest, 1 p.m., ACCN Extra
Sunday’s games
Wofford at Georgia Tech, noon, ACC Network
Stetson at Miami, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Clemson at Chicago State, 3 p.m.
Duke at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Cornell at Stanford, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cal Poly at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Monday, Dec. 29, games
Pittsburgh at No. 20 Notre Dame, 6 p.m., ACCN
SMU at Virginia, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 18 North Carolina at Boston College, 8 p.m., ACC Network

Date	Day/month	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
30	Thursday	L, 91–82	No. 3 South Carolina in Atlanta	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 90–42	vs. N.C. Central	1–0
6	Thursday	W, 71–37	vs. Elon	2–0
			WBCA Challenge Las Vegas
13	Thursday	L, 78–60	vs. No. 4 UCLA	2–1
15	Saturday	W, 82–68	vs. Fairfield	3–1
			———————————
20	Thursday	W, 85–50	at N.C. A&T	4–1
23	Sunday	W, 94–48	vs. UNCG	5–1
			Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico
27	Thursday	W, 83–48	vs. South Dakota St.	6–1
28	Friday	W, 85–73	vs. Kansas State	7–1
29	Saturday	W, 80–63	vs. Columbia	8–1
	December		ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
4	Thursday	W, 79–64	at No. 2 Texas	8–2
			———————————
7	Sunday	W, 82–40	vs. Boston Univ.	9–2
14	Sunday	L, 76–66, OT	vs. No. 16 Louisville	9–3, 0–1 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 84–34	vs. UNCW	10–3
21	Sunday	Noon	vs. Charleston Southern	ACCN Extra
29	Monday	8 p.m.	at Boston College	ACCN
	January
1	Thursday	Noon	vs. California	ACCN
4	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. Stanford	ESPN
11	Sunday	1 p.m.	at No. 20 Notre Dame	ESPN
15	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Miami	ACCN Extra
18	Sunday	2 p.m.	at Florida State	The CW
22	Thursday	8 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
25	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	The CW
	February
2	Monday	6 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN2
5	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ACCN
8	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
12	Thursday	6 p.m.	vs. SMU	ACCN
15	Sunday	1 p.m.	at Duke	ABC
19	Thursday	6 p.m.	at Virginia Tech	ACCN
22	Sunday	Noon	vs. Pittsburgh	ACCN
26	Thursday	7 p.m.	at Virginia	ACCN Extra
	March
1	Sunday	Noon	vs. Duke	ESPN
			ACC tournament
4–8	Wed.-Sun		Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga.
			NCAA tournament
20–24	Fri.-Mon.		First, second rounds
27–30	Fri.-Mon.		Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif.
	April
3, 5	Fri., Sun		Final Four Phoenix