The No. 5 NC State women’s basketball team took down Miami 76-64 on Sunday, Jan. 9 in Coral Gables, Florida.
Both the Wolfpack (14-2, 5-0 ACC) and Hurricanes (7-5, 0-2 ACC) were originally slated to face different opponents on Sunday, with NC State traveling to Notre Dame and Miami hosting Louisville. However, COVID-19 protocols within the Fighting Irish and Cardinals programs postponed those original matchups, forcing NC State and Miami’s Jan. 27 meeting to be bumped up.
Prior to Sunday’s matchup, the Wolfpack, who is undefeated in conference play this season, had not won an ACC game by less than 27 points. Moore said playing in Miami is, “really not conducive to my blood pressure,” with how the Hurricanes play defense.
“Miami, they just get after you on defense,” Moore said. “[Miami head coach] Katie [Meier] has them. They play really hard for her. They’re going to use a plethora of presses and then in the half court, they’re trapping, they’re flying around.”
Good 3-point shooting kept the Hurricanes in the game, making nine at a 34.6% clip after entering the contest averaging just over six made 3s per game, but the Wolfpack was able to pull away late and seal the win.
“It wasn’t always pretty today, but they found a way to get it done and especially on the road in the ACC, you better take all those you can and move on,” Moore said. “So, good team win.”
The Hurricanes out-rebounded the Pack 38-28 and collected 21 offensive rebounds. While the Pack did well to limit second chance points, only allowing eight, those opportunities allowed Miami 13 more shots than NC State had.
“That’s hard, especially on the road, to survive that,” Moore said. “And so that’s what we just talked about in the locker room. If we want to get where we want to get, we got to have a commitment. Everyone’s got to get in there and help us and we just got to do a better job. We knew coming in, that’s what they’re great at. They’re great on the boards. They’re great in transition, and you got to take away those easy points. And unfortunately, today, we didn’t do that and give them credit, they knocked down some shots, too.”
Graduate forward Kayla Jones and sophomore guard Diamond Johnson each scored eight in the half, leading the way for an underperforming Wolfpack to take a 35-32 lead into the break. The pair finished the game with 11 and 16, respectively.
Senior center Elissa Cunane was held shotless in four minutes of action in the first quarter, but started to heat up in the second and fully took over in the third. Cunane scored six points on 3-for-3 shooting in the second quarter and followed that up with a nine-point third quarter to help the Pack narrowly extend its lead heading into the final frame.
Cunane ended the game with 19 points, five rebounds, three assists, four blocks and a steal.
“Obviously Elissa Cunane was really a great answer inside,” Moore said. “Sometimes against the zone, you forget to get her the ball. And I thought in the second half, we did probably a better job of that or maybe even late in the first half.”
Junior center Camille Hobby scored some important baskets throughout the game, both when Cunane was struggling to get the ball in the first quarter and when she was on the bench later in the game. Hobby ended with nine points, two rebounds and a block.
The Pack will wrap up its two-game road trip on Thursday, Jan. 13 when it faces Virginia in Charlottesville. The game is set for 7 p.m. and will be broadcasted on the ACC Network Extra.
