Senior forward Kody Burke buried a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to lift No. 14 N.C. State over Virginia, 68-66, on Sunday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum. Burke’s shot came during a dismal shooting day for the senior, who had made only one field goal prior to hitting the winning three.
With the win, the Pack improves its record to 23-5 overall and 10-4 in ACC play.
“As a senior, I need to play with confidence and show the younger players an example, and sure enough it worked out,” Burke said. “[Junior guard Krystal Barrett] did a good job of penetrating and attacking and had the confidence to kick it out to me.”
Senior center Markeisha Gatling led the Wolfpack with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds. Her presence in the paint helped State dominate the boards, as the Pack had 37 rebounds on the day compared to just 25 for the Cavaliers.
After being down by as many as nine points late in the second half, the Pack mounted a comeback. Trailing by a score of 61-52 with fewer than seven minutes remaining, State held Virginia scoreless for the next five-and-a-half minutes.
“Our defense down the stretch was great,” head coach Wes Moore said. “We have got to try and keep games in the sixties.”
Junior guard Miah Spencer tied the game at 61 points apiece with a 3-pointer at the 1:28 mark, and the lead changed hands five times until Burke’s shot in the closing seconds. Spencer started in place of senior guard Myisha Goodwin-Coleman, who tore her ACL against Duke on Thursday and is out for the remainder of the season.
Moore also had to replace senior forward Lakeesa Daniel, who tore her ACL less than 24 hours after Goodwin-Coleman in Friday’s practice during non-contact drills.
“I knew I was going to have to come in and step up and show [Coach Moore] I was ready,” Spencer said. “I tried to bring urgency to the team to show my teammates I have their backs.”
At the half, State led 35-29 thanks to a 10-point, six-rebound performance from Gatling. The Wolfpack led for nearly the entire half, and the lead got as high as 10 points following a 3-pointer by freshman forward Jennifer Mathurin midway through the half. Virginia stayed in it by sinking six treys of its own. Redshirt senior guard Lexie Gerson led the Cavs in scoring with nine points at the half.
Defense dominated the first half—State forced 11 turnovers, and UVa forced 10. The Pack turned that defense into offense, scoring 19 of its 35 points off takeaways compared to just one for the Cavaliers.
In the first half, Virginia shot 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the 3-point arc. Virginia’s bench scored 10 of its 29 points, eight of them coming from sophomore guard Faith Randolph.
The Pack came out hot in the first five minutes after halftime, taking an early nine-point lead. However, Virginia responded by outscoring State 13-9 to bring the game closer. The Cavaliers took the lead with 9:38 left in the game after sinking three 3-point shots in a row.
Virginia built its second-half lead by employing a three-quarter-court zone press, forcing State’s guards into a myriad of turnovers. The Cavs also shot well throughout the entire game, going 25-for-49 from the field and 10-for-20 from beyond the arc.
By comparison, State was less successful from the field, going 22-for-55 and seven-for-24 from 3-point land. However, the Pack used the free-throw line to great effect, sinking 17 of its 20 foul shot attempts compared to just six-of-nine for the Cavs.
“We were settling for threes, and they just weren’t going,” Moore said. “I kept stressing to get the ball into [Gatling], and I thought the kids did a good job of that.”
The Wolfpack will travel to Pittsburgh on Thursday to take on Pitt in its penultimate game of the season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
State will close out its regular season next Sunday, hosting No. 2 Notre Dame in a 2 p.m. contest at Reynolds.
