The No. 9 NC State women’s basketball team picked up a statement win Thursday night, thoroughly beating No. 13 Florida State 68-51 at home in Reynolds Coliseum for its second top-15 win of the season. Here are some key numbers from the game.
6:58 — Time in minutes and seconds before a team finally scored twice in a row, with the two teams trading buckets for nearly the first seven minutes. After senior guard Aislinn Konig drilled a 3-pointer in transition, the Wolfpack forced a stop on defense and junior forward Kayla Jones followed up with a strong finish in transition for the layup.
1 — Steals by NC State in the first half. Despite the Wolfpack locking the Seminoles down on defense, it forced just one steal, a stolen pass by graduate guard Kaila Ealey, who immediately stepped out of bounds. NC State was able to clamp up on defense by forcing contested shots and rotating in sync.
8 — Rebounds for freshman wing Jakia Brown-Turner, a career high. The former five-star recruit is hitting her stride at the right time and was all over the court Thursday night, consistently crashing the boards as sophomore center Elissa Cunane would clear out multiple Seminoles on the block.
18 — Points for Brown-Turner, another career high in a great performance. She was efficient all night long, connecting on 7 of 10 shots from the field and knocking down 3 of 4 tries from the 3-point line. When the 6-foot wing is on her game, the Wolfpack is nearly impossible to beat.
29 — Layups attempted by the Wolfpack. Just a few days after attempting only 14 in a win over Notre Dame, NC State constantly pounded the ball inside and attacked the basket both in transition and the halfcourt, resulting in 40 points in the paint.
5 — Blocks for Cunane. The 6-foot-5 center’s five rejections were a career high and came on a night where Florida State consistently tried to test her inside. She constantly turned away driving Seminoles and had one of the best defensive performances of her young career.
10 — Fouls committed by NC State. For a Wolfpack team that doesn’t rely on its bench very much and plays its starters big minutes, staying out of foul trouble is extremely important. The Pack did just that Thursday night, with only one starter picking up more than two.
26 — Points below their season average the Wolfpack held the Seminoles to. Florida State came into the game averaging just over 77 points per game and NC State completely shut it down, holding the Seminoles to 51 points on 36% shooting from the field and 18% from beyond the arc.
