It seemed like the No. 11 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets had everything that could make life tough for the No. 5 NC State women’s basketball team: height, star power and physical interior defense. Senior center Elissa Cunane finished with just six points on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor. On paper, the game should’ve been close.
And yet, the Wolfpack (21-3, 12-1 ACC) ran the Yellow Jackets (18-5, 9-3 ACC) out of the gym in a 59-48 blowout inside Reynolds Coliseum on Monday, Feb. 7 in the team’s 17th annual Play4Kay Game. The Pack got spectacular performances from just about every player on the roster, holding Georgia Tech to just 35.1% from the floor and a whopping 17.6% from deep.
“We knew Georgia Tech was a very physical team,” said sophomore guard Diamond Johnson. “They’re strong. They’re a good team. We knew we had to be physical as well. We needed to hold our ground and slow the post down. They’ve got some good posts, good guards. We knew defense was going to be a key to this game. They’ve got good height and size and are one of the best defending teams in the ACC. We knew it was going to come down to defense. We just locked in on everything, scouted everything.”
The final score doesn’t do justice to just how much NC State dominated Georgia Tech in every regard. Before garbage time, NC State held a 59-38 lead, Georgia Tech was shooting 7% from deep and the Pack was outscoring the Yellow Jackets 28-0 in bench points.
It’s always a good night when NC State is able to hold a team to single-digit points in a quarter. Tonight, the Pack did it twice. The Wolfpack has held opponents to single digits in 18 quarters, 19% of the entire season. After going down 10-2 early, the Wolfpack turned on the switch and proceeded to outscore the Yellow Jackets 57-18 before garbage time.
Johnson and graduate guard Raina Perez were a huge reason for the Pack’s success, with Johnson coming up with 12 points, six rebounds and a beautiful assist to junior forward Jada Boyd. It was a strong return to form for Johnson, who didn’t even need to attempt a 3 to lead the Pack in scoring.
“We sat down and talked,” said head coach Wes Moore. “I went back and watched all of her shots at Notre Dame, and there was a bunch of them, and I explained to her that we have to get inside-out touches. I broke down and watched every one of those shots, and a lot of them were just short. ‘If you’ll just get it there, the aim is good. You’ve just got to make sure you get it there and give it a chance.’ I thought for the most part she did a good job of that tonight.”
Johnson was also surprisingly effective on the boards. At 5-foot-5, Johnson finished second on the team in rebounds and led the team in offensive boards. On one particular play, Cunane took a 3 from the corner and Johnson got the board and the second-chance points.
“I take very much pride in it,” Johnson said. “I’m a smaller guard, so I can’t just score the ball inside. I’ve got to try to do other things. I try not to be one-dimensional. Rebounding is a big part of having heart and being physical. That’s the type of player I am, so if I get an opportunity and see the ball, I’m going to get it.”
Perez, meanwhile, finished with 11 points and three fantastic steals, getting out in transition and making great reads. The highlight of the night for Perez came on a crossover that made her defender stumble backward, allowing Perez to hit the wide-open jumper.
“She’s so good,” said Georgia Tech head coach Nell Fortner. “That Perez, she’s so good. And she’s so underrated, it seems like. She’s fantastic. She’s hard to guard. She’s shifty, crafty with the ball in her hand, getting around screens or just hesitation dribbles. She can kill you from behind the 3 and then get to the hole. She’s crafty, really hard to defend. And obviously, she had a good night tonight.”
The Pack got great boosts from Boyd, who helped spark the team’s second and third-quarter runs, and junior center Camille Hobby, who played most of the fourth quarter. The two bigs combined for 16 points to help pick up some of the interior slack, doing so against a dominant Yellow Jacket frontcourt spearheaded by Lorela Cubaj and Nerea Hermosa.
At first, it seemed like the Pack was going to have a hard game on its hands, with Georgia Tech getting out to a quick 10-2 lead behind four points apiece from Cubaj and Eylia Love. However, it was graduate forward Kayla Jones, alongside Perez, who paced the Pack in the first quarter. Jones finished with all seven of her points coming in the first, joining Perez in hitting clutch 3s to bring the Wolfpack back into the game.
It was the second quarter where the Pack’s fortunes turned. Boyd got two quick layups to start the quarter and the Pack didn’t look back. Boyd combined with Johnson to score 12 points in the quarter and allowed NC State to get out to an eight-point lead heading into an emotional halftime sequence featuring a standing ovation for breast cancer survivors.
NC State’s third quarter featured inspired, stifling defense, as the Pack didn’t allow Georgia Tech to score until just over five minutes left in the quarter. After scoring 10 points in the first 4:03 of game time, Georgia Tech only mustered 12 points across the ensuing 20:47 of play. Graduate guard Kai Crutchfield capped off the Pack’s ridiculous run with a buzzer-beating 3 to send the Wolfpack into the fourth with a 20-point lead.
“I just think this team likes to challenge,” Johnson said. “We usually start off slow, so we know we’ve got to pick it up in the third quarter. The third quarter is our quarter where we take off. Nine times out of 10 that’s the game for us. Just coming out stronger in the third quarter has always been good to us. Even though we want to play good in the first half, I guess the third quarter is always the quarter where we just take off.”
The Yellow Jackets gave the Pack a bit of a scare in the final four minutes of the game, forcing Moore to put his starters back in to close the game. However, it was too little, too late, as the late Georgia Tech run did nothing but make the game’s stat sheet appear closer than it was, as the Pack went on to the 11-point victory.
“I’m never going to be completely happy, but for three quarters tonight we were pretty good,” Moore said.
However, the most important aspect of the game came in-between game action: the Kay Yow Fund’s halftime ceremony. Former players, coaches and breast cancer survivors all came together to honor the acclaimed Wolfpack coach’s legacy and current Georgia Tech associate head coach Tasha Butts, who is currently battling breast cancer. The fund managed to raise $324,087.75 for the hard-fought cause.
“I was fortunate from ‘93 to ‘95 to be here with Kay Yow as an assistant coach,” Moore said. “She battled cancer for about 20 years off and on. Pretty amazing, just her perseverance and attitude. … It’s special wherever you go and you stop and think and reflect. It’s a whole other level here. You’re looking at Kay Yow Court. You’re looking up at her banner up in the rafters. Heck, you look across there and see Jim Valvano Arena. The two biggest advocates for fighting cancer are from NC State. You think of the millions and billions of dollars that they’ve raised for cancer research, helping people through the tough times like this to battle this stuff.”
Next up, NC State hits the road to take on Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts on Thursday, Feb. 10. That game tips at 6 p.m. and can be viewed on the ACC Network.
“They have a physical team,” Johnson said. “I watched them play. We’ve got to be the same team, or even better. Be physical, strong. We know they’re going to come for us. Everybody is coming for us. It’s just holding our ground and taking it to heart and taking things that they do well away. It’s just having a strong mindset about doing what we do.”
Junior forward Jada Boyd holds close to the ball in the Pack's annual Play4Kay game against Georgia Tech on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022 in Reynolds Coliseum. Boyd made four field goals during the game for the Wolfpack. NC State beat Georgia Tech 59-48
