WILMINGTON, N.C. - Ali Zelaya scored 19 points, Taylor Henderson added 16 and UNCW held off a late Campbell rally in a 66-61 win in both teams CAA opener Friday night at Trask Coliseum.
UNCW (7-7, 1-0) snapped a four-game losing streak. Campbell (7-6, 0-1) had four players score in double-figures led by 14 from Gianni Boone.
The Seahawks jumped out to a 10-0 lead to open the game and led by as many as 14 with 5:17 left in the third quarter before Campbell closed the period on a 16-6 run to cut the deficit to four.Â
Campbell cut it to as few as two points on a free throw by Boone with 6:56 to go in the fourth. UNCW immediately pushed its lead back to 10 as Jania Hall and Zelaya hit threes as part of a 10-2 run. CU trimmed the deficit to 66-61 with 2:25 to go after a three from Gemma Nunez and a layup from Olivia Tucker but couldn't make it closer in the final minutes.Â
Courtney Dahlquist scored 12 points, Hadleigh Dill added 11 points while Ciara Alexander finished in double-figures for a fourth-straight game with 12 points. Nunez finished with eight points, six boards, nine assists, two blocks and four steals.
Zelaya made 8-of-15 shots overall, 3-of-3 from three and added seven boards. Henderson flirted with a double-double adding nine boards while Evan Miller added 13 points.Â
UNCW made 46.7 percent (28-of-60) shots overall and 40.0 percent (6-of-15) from three while the Camels shot 34.9 percent (22-of-63) from the field and 29.6 (8-of-27) from behind the arc.Â
Campbell continues on the road at Charleston on Sunday at 2 PM.