N.C. State came within a possession of taking down the undefeated Duke Blue Devils, but couldn’t finish. Instead of shocking the nation and upsetting the only remaining undefeated team in women’s college basketball, the Pack walks away with a bittersweet 65-64 loss.
In the first half, State definitely came to play. Sophomore guard Marissa Kastanek scored the Packs first two points with a slashing layup. The Wolfpack followed Kastanek’s lead, with an impressive showing both offensively and defensively. State’s largest lead came at the end of the first half after freshman center Kody Burke hit two free throws in the bonus, giving State a 40-22 lead heading into intermission. The Pack’s stifling defense managed to hold All-American Thomas to six first half points and Duke to a season low of 21.9 percent shooting from the field in the first half.
“We tip our hats to N.C. State, they played absolutely terrifically,” Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “Great basketball, the best I’ve seen them play all year. At 52 percent shooting by them in first half was obviously problematic.”
State looked as if they were poised to finish off the Blue Devils early on in the second half, keeping the lead at a high of 18 points. But Duke started chipping away at the State lead until Duke center Krystal Thomas hit a layup that would tie the game at 61.
The last seconds of the game proved to be a thriller. With under a minute remaining, Kastanek hit two free throws to regain the lead, but Duke forward Chelsea Gray hit the eventual game winning layup with 12 seconds left. However, head coach Kellie Harper chose not to call a timeout before the Packs final possession.
“We had struggled getting the ball up floor and getting good looks,” Harper said. “So I felt like our best opportunity to get a shot was to let our kids go and not call the timeout and not allow them to set up their defense which had hurt us all second half.”
For States final possession Kastanek had a great look from beyond the arc, but the shot rimmed out. Junior forward Bonae Holston grabbed the rebound and missed the put back. Duke’s Krystal Thomas pulled down the rebound and let the clock run out to end the dramatic contest.
Although State took a hard loss, Kastanek believes this devastating loss will become fuel for their fire for the rest of the season.
“I think the feeling that all of us have right now is going to fuel us for the rest of the season,” Kastanek said. “Yes, it’s going to give us confidence because obviously we can play with the number three ranked team, obviously we’re good enough to do that. And I think it took a game like this, unfortunately we had to lose it. “