In front of a deafening sold-out crowd in Reynolds Coliseum, the No. 8 NC State women’s basketball team avenged its only loss of the season with a 76-68 win over archrival North Carolina Sunday night.
A late third-quarter run and a monster performance from sophomore center Elissa Cunane helped secure the Wolfpack (19-1, 8-1 ACC) its fifth straight win after suffering its first and only loss at the hands of the Tar Heels (14-6, 5-4 ACC) over two weeks ago.
With Reynolds Coliseum roaring after every big shot and on its feet for every exciting play, the crowd injected energy into an already electric Wolfpack squad.
“This is why you come to NC State,” said senior guard Aislinn Konig. “You come here for big games with amazing crowds and high stakes. As a player and a competitor, there’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
Much like the teams’ last showdown, NC State shot out of a cannon in the first quarter, racing out to an 11-2 lead and dominating the pace of the game. Then North Carolina slowly crawled back, and Tar Heels guard Taylor Koenen’s 16 first-half points kept the Heels in the game.
“That team’s got a lot of weapons over there,” said head coach Wes Moore. “The first half, Koenen, we didn’t really have an answer for her. I think she had 16 points at halftime … Tough to guard, we’ve got to try to keep doing a better job, improving.”
With North Carolina fighting back to just a two-point deficit late in the second quarter, junior forward Kayla Jones popped out to the corner after an entry pass to Cunane. The Pack’s star center passed up on a post move and kicked the ball out to Jones, who rose up and knocked down a 3-pointer to create some separation.
As both teams ran back down the court, a technical foul was called on the North Carolina bench, which was up in arms about what it thought was a no-call on the previous possession. Cunane hit both technical free throws, and in the span of just a few seconds, the Wolfpack went from clinging to a two-point lead to up 35-28.
The Tar Heels clawed their way back in to start the third quarter, again cutting their deficit to two points. But a 3-pointer by freshman wing Jakia Brown-Turner kickstarted a 13-2 NC State run buoyed by four consecutive layups that gave the Pack a 13-point lead, its largest of the game.
Konig’s third and fourth 3-pointers of the night put NC State back up 10, and the Wolfpack never looked back from there, picking up its eighth ACC win and remaining in second place behind No. 5 Louisville.
“I try to take open and good shots, and today they were falling for me,” Konig said. “I’m sure that if they weren’t falling for me, somebody else would have done it. But we came together in the end.”
Cunane had a bounce-back game after struggling in the first game against North Carolina. The 6-foot-5 phenom scored 22 points and hauled in 17 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. The Wolfpack went to Cunane early and often, and she drew fouls all game long. Cunane knocked down a career-high 14 of 16 free throws as she made the Tar Heels pay for their aggressive low-post defense.
“I thought our kids did a great job,” Moore said. “Elissa in particular, to have … 17 rebounds is pretty amazing. She was a warrior out there, getting that done.”
Konig also had one of her best games of the season, connecting on 4 of 7 3-pointers on her way to 16 points and four assists. Junior guard Kai Crutchfield broke out of her shooting slump with three deep balls and 13 points.
The Wolfpack will be back in action Thursday, Jan. 30, when it travels to Clemson to take on the Tigers at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Southeast.
