A depleted N.C. State team suffered its worst ever ACC Tournament loss Saturday, as the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the 14th ranked Wolfpack, 83-48, in semifinal action in Greensboro.
Entering the tournament without senior guard Myisha Goodwin-Coleman and senior forward Lekeesa Daniel due to ACL injuries on consecutive days, N.C. State was forced to compete on Saturday without first team All-ACC performer Markeisha Gatling, as the senior center injured her left knee with 8:19 remaining in the Pack’s quarterfinal victory over Syracuse on Friday.
The game on Saturday was never in doubt. Notre Dame scored the first 12 points of the contest and it took N.C. State over five and a half minutes before it scored its first points. The Pack did not reach double figures in points until the 6:58 mark in the first half, when a three-pointer from junior guard Krystal Barrett cut Irish’s lead to 27-11.
“Obviously, [a] very humbling day,” N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said. “It is hard right now to look at the big picture, but hopefully we can do that soon.”
After trailing 46-18 at halftime, the Pack never got the deficit closer than 27 after the intermission. Freshman guard Miah Spencer, starting her fifth game since Goodwin-Coleman’s season ending injury at Duke on Feb. 20, was the only player to reach double figures scoring with 11 points. Senior forward Kody Burke, who finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds against Syracuse on Friday, struggled against the Irish and finished with four points and four rebounds.
“[Kody] was out of position [Saturday],” Moore said. “We had to move her inside and I don’t know how smart of a decision that was on my part, but we had to put somebody down there.”
N.C. State will await its fate from the NCAA Tournament selection committee as the Pack appears certain to earn its first tournament bid since 2010. State is 25-7 overall, and only four teams in school history have finished with more victories.
“I think a couple days off is going to give us our legs back, get our minds back right, let it all go and focus on what’s ahead of us,” Spencer said. “I think we’ll be fine.”
