The NC State women’s basketball team went on the road Thursday night and made quick work of Clemson, winning 79-62 at Littlejohn Coliseum in the first of a three-game road swing.
Behind a career-high seven 3-pointers from senior guard Aislinn Konig, the Wolfpack (20-1, 9-1 ACC) won its sixth straight game as it jumped out to an early lead against the Tigers (7-14, 3-7 ACC) and never looked back.
A 3-pointer barrage led to a high-scoring first quarter, as the two teams combined to sink eight deep balls. Over a 3 ½-minute stretch toward the end of the period, six of the teams’ seven buckets were threes.
Freshman wing Jakia Brown-Turner led the Pack with two 3-pointers in the hot-shooting period, and four different NC State players knocked down at least one trey as the Wolfpack closed out the quarter with a 22-18 lead.
The teams went ice cold from deep in the second period, and a 3-pointer by Konig was the only one either team connected in the second 10 minutes. A 10-0 run in the middle of the quarter bookended by two layups from sophomore center Elissa Cunane gave NC State a comfortable 37-28 lead heading into halftime.
After junior forward Kayla Jones hit a 3-pointer to begin the second half, Konig caught fire in a hurry. The 5-foot-10 senior leader knocked down three 3-pointers in a row, scoring nine points during a 90-second span. As Clemson tried to push the ball down the court after Konig’s third 3 of the quarter, Jones came up with a steal and found junior guard Kai Crutchfield for an easy layup and a 20-point lead.
With the Pack up 17 entering the fourth quarter, NC State head coach Wes Moore went to his bench early to give his starters some time off as they gear up for the stretch run of ACC play.
Konig led all scorers with 23 points on 8-for-17 shooting. Jones finished with 15 points and six rebounds, and Brown-Turner rounded out the Wolfpack’s double-digit scorers with 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Wolfpack will be back in action for the second game of its road trip on Sunday, when it travels to Durham for a Tobacco Road showdown against rival Duke. The game will tip off at 2 p.m. inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, and will be broadcast live on the ACC Network Extra.
