N.C. State had all five of its starters finish with double-figures in scoring, led by junior guard Len’Nique Brown with 17 points, and the Wolfpack made nine three-pointers en route to a, 80-73, victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at McCamish Pavillion in Atlanta on Sunday.
The win improves the No. 23 Wolfpack to 18-3 overall and 5-2 in the ACC.
State used a hot start from behind the arc to build a 15-6 lead six minutes into the opening half. Senior guard Myisha Goodman-Coleman led the Pack from three-point range with a four-for-10 afternoon and finishing with 16 points.
Foul woes for N.C. State helped Georgia Tech stay in the game. The Yellow Jackets rallied to bring the game within three points at halftime and led by a point with 14:39 remaining in the game when senior guard Tyaunna Marshall hit a jumper. Marshall finished with 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Tech.
“It was a big win,” N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said. “The foul trouble bit us. To top it off, we had Myisha in foul trouble. She was hot and hit some big threes for us early in the game. We weathered it, we’re able to hang in there, and then the second half showed a lot of toughness.”
After Georgia Tech took its last lead of the game in the second half, the Wolfpack used a 15-4 run over the next nine minutes to open up a nine point lead with less than six minutes to play. The Yellow Jackets used a full-court press defensively on N.C. State, but the Pack handled it effectively.
“Len’Nique played 39 minutes against the press all day long, unbelievable performance,” Moore said. “In first half, I thought we did a great job of burning the press. Fortunately, Len’Nique, and [junior guard] Krystal Barrett for that matter, both of them did a good enough job of handling the ball to get it down the court and we were able to build a little bit of a lead. They did an awesome job. I couldn’t be prouder. This is a big, big win.”
N.C. State had 22 assists on 26 field goals. Brown led the team with six dishes on the afternoon. The senior also added seven rebounds, second on the team only to senior center Markeisha Gatling’s eight.
Heading into the matchup, Marshall and Tech’s freshman guard Maela Davis were a concern for Moore and the Wolfpack due to their ability to score and pass. State had issues with Marshall, but was able to contain Davis, limiting her to five points on two-of-10 shooting from the floor.
“Coach stressed how good they were in practice and he had us pressuring the ball and denying them the ball,” Brown said. “I think that [Barrett] and Myisha did a great job on both of them, along with us collapsing and helping out. We had help all around.”
N.C. State will attempt to inch closer in its attempt to reach the 20-win plateau in the regular season for the first time since the 2006-07 campaign when the Pack hosts nationally-ranked Maryland in Reynolds Coliseum on Thursday in the final-ever regular season ACC game between the two schools, with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.
State leads the overall series 41-35 but the Terrapins have won seven of the last eight between the two.
