The Charlotte 49ers women's basketball squad kicked off its regular season with an impressive 72-40 win over the Gaels of Iona in the first round of the Women's NIT. Charlotte will play a road game at Florida--who beat UCF 77-67--in the second round on Monday.
Charlotte got off to a hot start and never looked back. Following an opening 3-pointer by Iona's Anda Ivkovic, Charlotte went on a 13-0 run, powered by four points from Paige McCallum. The 49ers used a suffocating man defense to thwart any chance Iona had offensively and crashed the offensive boards early and often. Charlotte was out rebounded 18-16 in the first half but used 10 steals to take a 33-22 lead into the halftime break.
Building on its 11-point halftime lead, Charlotte used a 16-4 run to start the second half to push the margin to 23 at 49-26.
Prior to the season, Karen Aston noted that the biggest difference between this last season's squad and this one was the depth she had in the front court. That difference was made evident on Saturday as Charlotte outscored Iona 20-8 in the paint in the first half and 32-18 for the game.
Charlotte was led offensively by the sister duo of McCallum and her older sister, Shannon. Paige contributed 13 points while Shannon added 21 of her own.
Charlotte returns to action on Monday when they play Florida in the second round. Time for the game has yet to be announced.
No comments:
Post a Comment