Five days ago, No. 14 NC State women’s basketball head coach Wes Moore spoke about the team’s upcoming demanding schedule.
“February is brutal,” Moore said. “Five out of six games against ranked teams, three of them on the road and, oh boy, the two at home are Duke and Notre Dame. Two top-10 teams. Gotta look at the schedule, folks. Road games are tough every night in the ACC, but now you’re going to three ranked ones. We still got a whole lot of speed bumps ahead of us.”
The Wolfpack (19-4, 11-1 ACC) was hot coming in, winning 14 of its last 15 games, including a top-10 win at home against then-No. 10 Duke. But the one area NC State had struggled in all season was away or neutral site ranked matchups. Three of its four losses came from early failures against then-No. 1 South Carolina and then-No. 8 LSU at neutral sites and then-No. 24 California in Berkeley.
NC State picked up a full head of steam after its win against Duke and was ready to face the best the ACC had to offer, beginning with a trip to Tallahassee, Florida to take on the No. 22 Florida State Seminoles, led by the nation’s leading scorer — guard Ta’Niya Latson, who came in averaging just over 26 points per game.
However, instead of falling victim to the same cycle it found itself in earlier in the season, the Wolfpack defeated one of the ACC’s top teams in blowout fashion, stomping the Seminoles (19-5, 9-3 ACC) 97-74 on their own court and extending its win streak to eight games.
Latson lived up to her lofty expectations, scoring 23 points while her teammate — guard O’Mariah Gordon — scored 20 of her own, but their combined effort simply couldn’t match the efficiency of the Wolfpack’s starting five as each starter scored 14 points or more.
Senior guard Aziaha James led the red-and-white in scoring with a 22-point outing. But it was sophomore guard Zoe Brooks who stole the show, scoring 21 points to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. James continues to be NC State’s top option, but Brooks has proven to be a reliable microwave scorer who can jumpstart the offense when James needs a break. Furthermore, Brooks has stepped up as the Wolfpack’s primary facilitator, averaging a team-leading 4.2 assists per game with over a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.
When the Wolfpack lost those early away games, it still had question marks at the center position. Graduate forward Caitlin Weimar was ruled out game after game, forcing Moore to rely on a post group made up of two freshmen and an inexperienced sophomore.
Freshman forward Tilda Trygger has provided exactly what the red-and-white needed. Though more known for being a stretch big, Trygger embraced her role as the post player, scoring 16 points — all of which came from inside the 3-point line — while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds along with three blocks. Trygger continues to be the player NC State was desperate to find so early in the season and is a big factor in the Pack’s recent success.
The win provides a huge boost for the Wolfpack, which still has three ranked teams in its next four matchups.
Next up, NC State returns home to Reynolds Coliseum for a Thursday night matchup against Miami. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and will be streamed on ACC Network.
