GREENSBORO, N.C. — Championship losses. It’s one of the most demoralizing feelings in all of sports, and NC State women’s basketball found itself on the wrong side of the scoreboard in a 76-62 loss to Duke — the same team it beat in the regular season a month ago.

“It shows that obviously we can get here,” said senior guard Saniya Rivers. “Credit to us for getting back here, but I think it just sucks because we worked so hard to get here and then it just sucks that we don’t get to celebrate in the end.”

To make matters worse, NC State has been here before.

Last season, the Wolfpack fought its way to the championship game just to fall to Notre Dame. NC State has the talent to reach the pinnacle of one of the best conferences in women’s college basketball but staggers when under the brightest of lights.

“I hope we can learn from it,” said head coach Wes Moore. “We were in the same position a year ago and it stinks, but we gotta hope it’s a wake-up call and we can bounce back and start a new season with [the NCAA Tournament.]”

To the Wolfpack’s consolation, it won four straight games after falling in the 2024 ACC Championship, reaching the Final Four for the first time in over 25 years. The loss spearheaded the Wolfpack’s greatest postseason run in program history.

But this loss is different. Unlike its loss in 2024, NC State had complete control of its game against Duke. The Blue Devils were stifled in the first half, scoring just 29 points on 36% shooting. On the other hand, the Wolfpack scored 36 points while shooting 47% from the field. NC State followed its game plan to a tee as it kept Duke at bay.

NC State went into the locker room with a confident seven-point lead but emerged looking like a completely different team. The Blue Devils outscored the Wolfpack 24-10 while shooting 63% from the field in the third quarter. From that point on, NC State couldn’t recover. It was outrebounded by 16 in the second half — a telltale sign of the final score. This isn’t the first time a single quarter has completely ruined the Pack’s chance of winning.

“Kind of reminded me of the third quarter against South Carolina last year,” Moore said. “In both games, we were really locked in defensively in the first half. Today, we had a lead and had them right where we wanted them defensively. But then the third quarter, for whatever reason, we kind of lost it.”

In its Final Four loss, NC State was losing by one point to the undefeated Gamecocks at halftime. But in the third quarter, it was outscored 29-6, effectively taking the red-and-white out of contention in just 10 minutes.

Furthermore, this has become a recurring theme throughout the past year. In its midseason loss to then-No. 12 UNC-Chapel Hill, a four-point second quarter ruined NC State, forcing it to play from behind in the second half and ultimately resulting in a one-point loss.

The Wolfpack learned from its mistakes against UNC when it defeated its rival by double digits yesterday. It learned from its mistakes against South Carolina when it defeated then-No. 1 Notre Dame, toppling the top team in the nation the way it couldn’t the season before.

“That’s just fighting through the adversity,” said graduate guard Madison Hayes. “This didn’t define us last year, so it shouldn’t define us this year.”

Sure, this is more painful than a midseason loss to UNC. Sure, back-to-back ACC Championship losses are a painful reminder of the Pack’s shortcomings. But with the NCAA Tournament closer than ever, there’s no better time for a refresh and regroup than right now.

“It sucks when you work that hard and it doesn’t result in the win,” Rivers said. “But it’s not over for us. We still have a long season ahead of us in our minds, so we’re just going to take this break and get our minds back right and fix what we can correct.”

NC State has a week and a half to solve its scoring issue before the NCAA Tournament, where it will presumably host the first two rounds in Reynolds Coliseum — the same place where it has won 20 games in a row.

But for now, the Wolfpack has to take the loss on the chin and simply keep moving forward. Use it as a learning experience to chase the biggest prize of all — a National Championship.