North Carolina advances in women's NCAA Tournament by beating Western Illinois 82-51

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Nyla Harris scored 17 points, Lanie Grant had 15 and North Carolina rolled past cold-shooting Western Illinois 82-51 on Friday night in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

Nyla Brooks added 14 points and Indya Nivar had 11 as the Tar Heels, hosting games on the opening weekend for the second year in a row, won a first-round game for the fifth straight season.

“Defense is something we can control, and I thought we’ve continued to really lock into that,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said.

Fourth-seeded North Carolina (27-7) will meet fifth-seeded Maryland, a 99-67 winner over Murray State in the site’s first game, on Sunday in the second round.

Mia Nicastro scored 21 points for No. 13 seed Western Illinois (26-6), which shot 30.4% from the field. The Leathernecks were 2 for 15 on 3-pointers.

Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said the Leathernecks probably needed a strong shooting performance to be in position for an upset.

“I think I said we need to hit 10 or 11 3s, and we hit two,” Gravina said. “… It’s being rushed, shots being challenged.”

Grant made four of North Carolina’s 10 3-pointers.

“All the coaches, all my teammates just continue to implore me to shoot the ball when I’m open, don’t turn down open shots,” Grant said.

Harris had 12 rebounds as part of the Tar Heels’ 47-32 edge on the boards.

The Tar Heels improved to 14-2 in home games.

North Carolina built a 23-11 lead while the Leathernecks made only three of their first 17 shots. The Tar Heels had a 38-24 halftime lead, holding Western Illinois to 25% shooting without a 3-point basket.

Western Illinois concluded its second winning season in the last eight years with its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017.

North Carolina shot 4 for 19 on first-half 3s, but kept launching shots because that’s what the Tar Heels do. They ended up 10 for 40 on 3s – well below their 36.1% average entering the game.

“When we look back at those shots, I think we’ll like a lot of them,” Banghart said. “We kept taking the good shots that we were getting.”

On the flip side, they made 20 of 29 shots from inside the 3-point arc.

The Tar Heels opted for various defensive strategies on Nicastro, who has been one of the country’s highest scorers this season. She shot 6 for 15 from the floor and 9 for 10 on free throws, coming up just short of her 24.2 points per game scoring average.

“She did a good job of kind of settling in,” Gravina said. “I was proud of her for sticking with it and not getting frustrated.”

Banghart said the Tar Heels paid particular attention to Nicastro.

“I thought we did a really good job on her,” Banghart said.

In a matchup of former Atlantic Coast Conference rivals, North Carolina will play Maryland with the right to advance to the Sweet 16.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness