Italee Lucas scored a career-high 34 points, leading No. 14 North Carolina to a 79-67 victory over No. 18 Iowa on Thursday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Laura Broomfield added 12 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for UNC (8-0), which got 10 points from Chay Shegog. Jessica Breland grabbed 10 rebounds.
It was UNC's first win in three meetings with the Hawkeyes.
Jaime Printy led Iowa (7-1) with 17 points while Morgan Johnson had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Kamille Wahlin also scored 16 points.
Iowa attempted a school record 37 3-pointers, hitting 11. UNC shot 43 percent to Iowa's 34 percent and won the rebound battle 50-42.
Iowa cut it to 61-60 on a 3-pointer from Printy with 5:25 left, but Lucas responded with five straight points to give the Tar Heels some breathing room.
UNC extended the lead to 74-62 on a pair of free throws by Broomfield with 1:53 to go.
The Tar Heels led 44-29 at halftime behind 17 points from Lucas, who finished 6 for 9 behind the 3-point arc. UNC outshot the Hawkeyes 45 percent to 34 percent before the break and outrebounded Iowa 29-16.
North Carolina looked as though it would have control from the outset, taking an 11-0 advantage on Lucas' 3-pointer with 17:05 left in the half. The Tar Heels had a 13-0 run later in the half, going up 42-22 on a 3 from freshman guard Latifah Coleman at 3:17.
But the Hawkeyes kept coming. Trailing 50-38 following Lucas' jumper with 16:27 to go, Iowa scored the next 11 points, capped by Johnson's free throw at 11:13.
Broomfield's bank shot with 10:19 remaining started a 10-0 Tar Heels run, with the last eight points scored by Lucas.
