NC State women’s basketball went on the road to play its eighth ACC match defeating Wake Forest 82-68 at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum Thursday night.
The Wolfpack (16-5, 5-3 ACC) didn’t have its normal quick start against Wake Forest (10-11, 2-6 ACC). Instead, the Demon Deacons took the lead in the first quarter, their largest lead being 9-4. But the Pack continued to fight against Wake Forest’s early momentum. With one 3-pointer from sophomore guard Aislinn Konig, the Pack was back on track leading Wake Forest 13-10.
The Pack prevented its opponent from scoring the next couple of baskets, trying to take advantage of the change in pace and cutting the deficit to 14-10.
Wake Forest didn’t stop taking shots and eventually the odds turned into the Deacs’ favor again by the end of the first quarter for a 16-14 lead.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Wake Forest increased its lead similarly to the first quarter, but once again the Wolfpack was right on its heels. Shortly after, the Pack tied it 23-23 with a made shot from senior center Akela Maize.
The Pack broke the standstill first as redshirt sophomore guard Kaila Ealey stole the ball. Over the course of the night, Ealey managed five steals.
From that steal, Ealey had Wake Forest drew a foul and and made both of her free throws; she went 7 of 12 from the charity stripe on the night.
The Pack led Wake Forest 36-31 at the half.
Returning from halftime, the Wolfpack only continued where it left off in the second quarter. Konig playing a key offensive role with some well-placed made shots, one being a three-pointer that brought the Pack to a 10-point lead at 43-33. Konig led the Pack on the night with 20 points.
Konig’s 3-pointer was then followed by two more perimeter shots for the Pack.
A minute later, redshirt junior Kiara Leslie made her own three in order to keep the Pack ahead 46-35. Leslie scored 13 points for the Pack. Following Leslie, Ealey increased the the point gap to 49-37. Ealey scored 16 points, finishing second to Konig for the Pack.
The final and fourth player to score double digits for the Wolfpack was senior Chelsea Nelson who scored 15 points. Nelson also led the team with 10 rebounds.
The Pack closed out the third quarter with a significant lead of 61-45.
In the final quarter, the Pack almost lost that comfortable lead to Wake Forest as the Pack couldn’t score until three minutes in but then another four minutes passed until the Pack’s shooting started to become more frequent again, similar to the third quarter.
The loss of momentum was due to missed layups, shots and turnovers. In the meantime, Wake Forest took its opportunity and closed the gap to as close as 63-58.
But the efforts of Wake Forest didn’t do much to put a dent in the Pack’s offense. The Pack got back into its groove and closed the game with a 14-point lead.
The Wolfpack will continue on the road with a trip to Clemson to face the Tigers on Sunday at 3 p.m.
