| The Fayetteville Observer
COLUMBIA, SC – NC State is perfectly comfortable in the spotlight.
Eighth-placed Wolfpack traveled to No. 1 in South Carolina on Thursday and left with a 54-46 victory, the first time in 13 years that NC State women’s basketball defeated a top-ranked team.
Here are five lessons from the game:
Packing in
Wolfpack did not shy away from South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston, who won the Lisa Leslie award last season as the best center in the country. The defense of NC State packed the post, holding Boston for unique numbers and outperforming the Gamecocks 30-28 in the painting.
South Carolina’s 46 points were the lowest score since the 45-34 victory over Hampton eight years ago.
Gamecocks fired just 10.5% in the second quarter, a statistic that particularly angered coach Dawn Staley. “I could be blindfolded in defense and I could shoot 10 percent,” she said in the post-game Zoom.
NC State coach Wes Moore suggested that the perimeter shooting would take Boston out of the scene earlier in the week, but it turned out to be a scam. The Pack went to Gamecock players with double and triple teams, and Elissa Cunane must have some bruises after the way she hit down the space.
In the marquee confrontation between the greats, Cunane found his rhythm in the second half, creating space for fine movements and going from 8 to 8 from the foul line to end with 14 points.
Boston, however, was more successful on the perimeter. Six of his nine points came from the 3-point range.
Hello Raina
Raina Perez made the most of his first time as a Wolfpack holder.
Getting the nod to replace second-year striker Jada Boyd, who was sidelined with a meniscus injury, Perez had no comeback in 37 minutes and scored 11 points. They all looked great.
His first points came in a fast break steal and layup that put the Pack at 17-16 in the second quarter. She had another green layup in the third room, suffering strong contact and falling to the floor. His 3-point basket with 3:06 remaining in the game turned a one-point deficit into a two-point advantage and Wolfpack would not lose again.
Perez, a graduate transfer from Cal State Fullerton, where she was Big West’s best player of the year last season, proved to be the steady hand that NC State needed on guard after losing titleholder Aislinn Konig for three years.
Kai Crutchfield started on point, but she fought on Tuesday night with just two points and four losses in 38 minutes.
Jones home
Boyd’s injury also meant that Kayla Jones returned to the post position she played last season, and she was at home.
Jones made a double with 12 rebounds and the best high of the game with 16 points.
“I knew I needed to step forward,” said the six-foot veteran.
Inspired by assistant coach Erin Batth’s words before the game – “be the leader,” she said – Jones was the most beautiful part of an ugly game.
She contributed three rebounds and four points in Wolfpack’s 12-1 run to end the first half, and her 3-point clutch from the top of the key with 27 seconds remaining put NC State ahead 51-46.
Jones did not stop there. If her dagger shot did not seal the victory, the charge she used in the next move did.
“I usually stay in the backseat and do the little things, but I knew I had to be aggressive,” she said.
Can a Gamecock lay an egg?
Staley let his post-game Zoom rip.
“I have never coached a team with this performance,” she said.
“In my 21 years, I never felt what I felt during the game; inaccessible, indomitable, without listening, just selfish game. I promise you that we will fix this before we use the word again. “
The Gamecocks entered the ESPN2 matchup on Thursday’s prime time in a sequence of 29 consecutive wins and ranked the No. 1 team in the country.
They responded with 27% of pitch performance and 36.4% of the free throw line.
When NC State went on a 10-0 run in the second quarter, the Gamecocks were 0-to-14 on the field.
“We need some leadership. We need to organize. We need to take better pictures. We need players with a high level of performance, ”said Staley, who won an NCAA championship with South Carolina in 2017.
She gave the NC State defense a minimum of credit with the comment: “They are talking a big part of what we do away from us and we have to find out something. We can’t just rely on being talented. “
The Wolfpack surrounded the big ones in South Carolina and took them out of their comfort zone. The result was bad kicking, poor execution and young players resorting to bad habits.
It was not pretty at either end.
“No one was sure of playing badly,” said Staley. “They won the battle for a bad basketball.”
Yes, but they will accept.
Going up
NC State’s victory over No. 1 is the third in 20 attempts in the program’s history, and the first since the Pack defeated Duke in the 2007 ACC tournament.
The national stage alone was good for the program, but getting a victory on the road against a top team takes Wolfpack to a new level.
Having already caught the attention of the women’s basketball world with a pair of Sweet 16s followed by an ACC tournament title, NC State continues to gain momentum.
Despite the obvious implications for the program, Moore downplayed Tuesday’s result.
“We are going to have fun for 24 hours or more … and then we have another game on Sunday,” he said. And he said that with wet hair because his players doused him with their water bottles. (Yes, of course, not a big deal.)
“It’s a game and it’s at the beginning of the year,” he said. “This is a result that will attract some attention, but it is not March.”
This is a great coach conversation, because Moore doesn’t want his team to be satisfied yet. This victory is historic for the program, but there is still more to come.
Sports publisher Monica Holland can be reached at [email protected].