CHAPEL HILL— The NC State women’s basketball team used a strong second half to defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels 66-58 on Sunday, Jan. 30 in Chapel Hill, completing the season sweep for the first time since 2018.
The Wolfpack (19-2, 10-0 ACC) trailed by as many as 12 in the first half but went on a blistering 21-2 run to open up the third quarter and hit some clutch shots at the end to hold off the Tar Heels (16-4, 6-4 ACC).
“North Carolina has a lot of talent, and we knew this was gonna be a challenge,” said head coach Wes Moore. “First half was tough. They knocked down some big shots, but I’m proud of the players being able to hang in there and keep it within six at halftime… In the third quarter, I loved the way we came out. We were confident, we were aggressive… Great win on the road against a really talented team, so we’re excited.”
The game did not start out well for the Pack, which didn’t score its first basket until nearly four minutes in as the Heels went up 9-2 to start the game and led 19-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Tar Heels went up by as many as 12 in the second quarter, but the Pack was able to close the gap back to six by halftime as Chapel Hill led 33-27.
The Pack came alive in the third quarter, going on a 21-2 run to start and took a 48-35 lead, which brought the many NC State fans in attendance on their feet. The team was able to get the ball inside to senior center Elissa Cunane, who scored seven of the team’s first nine points of the quarter, as well as get out in transition for easy baskets.
“We gotta run, we gotta push the ball, and I thought we did a great job of that in the third period,” Moore said. “I think the transition was big, and also getting [Cunane] touches and being able to swing the ball well enough to get some seals and allow her to score down there.”
The Heels closed the third quarter on a 9-2 run to make the score 50-44 heading into the fourth. The Pack went up by 14 with five minutes left, but the Heels just wouldn’t go away, getting it back to six with three minutes left.
That’s when the Pack’s veteran guards hit the big shots the team needed. After the Heels cut the lead to six, graduate guard Raina Perez knocked down a 3 to push the lead back to nine. When the Heels cut the lead to 63-58 with just over a minute left, graduate guard Kai Crutchfield knocked down a 3 of her own, which was the game’s last bucket as the Pack held on 66-58.
For Crutchfield, hitting big shots has become something of a habit as she hit three 3s in the second half, all of which came at critical moments, thus living up to her nickname as Kai “Clutchfield.”
“It’s those things where your teammates have confidence in you too, as well as the coaching staff,” Crutchfield said. “Just knowing that I’ve hit those shots before and my teammates having confidence in me as well.”
Crutchfield finished with a game-high 16 points, while Cunane had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Junior wing Jakia Brown-Turner scored 13, Perez had 10, and graduate forward Kayla Jones grabbed 11 rebounds despite scoring just one point.
As a team, NC State shot 44% from the field while holding the Heels to just 32%, and the Pack also outrebounded the Heels 41-36.
This was a big win for the Pack on multiple levels. For varying reasons, NC State has had trouble with UNC the last couple of years. In 2019 and 2020, the Tar Heels gave the Pack its first ACC loss of the season, and the Wolfpack had lost in Chapel Hill the last two years in a row. The Pack was able to avoid both of those being the case again as it is now 10-0 in the ACC.
Next up, NC State travels to take on Notre Dame on Tuesday, Feb. 1 in what will be the first of three games in the span of a week — the team returns home to host Florida State on Thursday, Feb. 3 and Georgia Tech on Monday, Feb. 7 in the annual Play4Kay Game. The game against Notre Dame tips at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra.
