Heels handle State, 80-59

Nikita Bell's 18 powers Heels to home win over Pack.

Bell goes up for a shot over Alvine Mendeng /AP photo

Nikita Bell scored 18 points as North Carolina rolled over North Carolina State, 80-59 in Carmichael Auditorium Sunday.

In the 25 minutes she played, Bell was on fire. The 6-0 sophomore went 9-14 from the field, hauled in six rebounds and handed out two assists. The bulk of her points came from point blank range as Bell drove the paint against the smaller State squad.

UNC got also 17 points from Coretta Brown and 14 from Leah Metcalf, both of whom hit big three-point shots to end State rallies.

Metcalf also showed off her passing skills with seven assists. The Heels as a group passed extremely unselfishly, and Bell was the recipient of many of those passes.

N.C. State was lead by Kaayla Chones with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

With the score tied at 14, the Pack went cold twice, going almost 11 minutes in the first half without scoring a field goal. UNC got two three-pointers from freshman Jessica Sell during that run to help extend their lead to 28-17.

State hit a dry spell again in the second half and the Heels took a 12 point lead to 20. The lead was as much as 23 before UNC took out the starters.

The only sore spot for the Heels was a horrible 8-22 performance from the free throw line. Carolina shot better from the field than the charity stripe.

Eleventh ranked UNC moves to 12-1, 2-0 in the ACC as the 6-7 Wolfpack drops below .500. The Heels host Wake Forest at Carmichael Thursday night at 7 p.m.

North Carolina 80, N.C. State 59

N.C. STATE: Labador 3-8 0-0 6, Mendeng 2-7 3-4 8, Chones 5-10 6-11 16, James 3-12 2-2 9, Rivers 4-6 0-1 8, Moody 0-4 0-0 0, Simpson 1-4 2-3 4, Bailey 3-7 0-0 8, McDowell 0-0 0-0 0, Bell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 13-21 59.

NORTH CAROLINA: Thomas 1-6 1-3 3, Bell 9-14 0-0 18, Sutton 3-8 0-0 6, Brown 5-8 3-4 17, Metcalf 6-14 0-1 14, Atkinson 2-4 1-5 5, Baptist 3-5 1-3 7, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, McBee 0-4 0-2 0, Sell 3-3 0-0 8, Laaksonen 0-0 0-0 0, Chambers 0-0 2-2 2, Tucker 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 32-66 8-22 80.

Halftime-North Carolina 35-25. 3-Point goals-N.C. State 4-18 (Bailey 2-6, Mendeng 1-1, James 1-6, Simpson 0-2, Labador 0-3), North Carolina 8-15 (Brown 4-6, Sell 2-2, Metcalf 2-7). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-N.C. State 36 (Chones 10), North Carolina 47 (Thomas 11). Assists-N.C. State 10 (Mendeng 3), North Carolina 18 (Metcalf 7). Total fouls-N.C. State 22, North Carolina 20. A-5,367.