No. 13 NC State women’s basketball had the ball while down three points with eight seconds left in Fort Worth, Texas. Ultimately, senior guard Aziaha James missed the game-tying shot that would have sent the game to overtime against TCU resulting in a 76-73 loss.
The Wolfpack (2-2) came into the game looking for its first win of the season outside of Reynolds Coliseum and the Horned Frogs (4-0) came in looking to make a huge statement win to put its season on the right track. No better opportunity for TCU than a Final Four team from the previous year.
The game started with back-and-forth scoring from both teams, but TCU made a run at the end of the second quarter to go up 33-31. The Horned Frogs took full advantage of their lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Wolfpack by eight to take a 62-52 lead.
The fourth quarter saw a slow surge from the Pack, slowly cutting the lead lower and lower. The biggest opportunity for it came in the final minute when sophomore guard Zoe Brooks made a layup to make it a 74-73 TCU lead. This was followed immediately by a steal from James, who missed a 3-pointer to take the lead seconds later. TCU made a layup to extend to a three point lead with eight seconds left and held off the Wolfpack on offense, securing its win.
Over the season so far, a glaring weakness for the Wolfpack has been the post position inside with graduate forward Caitlin Weimar currently out indefinitely. Weimar has not been able to play at all so far during the regular season, so NC State has been intensely relying on guard play for success.
TCU took full advantage of this by heavily using center Sedona Prince. Prince played for all 40 minutes, recording 31 points and 16 rebounds. Another contributor for the Horned Frogs was guard Hailey Van Lith, who contributed 18 points. Van Lith was very familiar with playing against the Wolfpack before as she previously played at fellow ACC school Louisville and it showed today.
The bright spot for the red-and-white in the loss was James. James did not start, but finished the game with 27 points, leading the team in scoring. Another bright spot was senior guard Saniya Rivers, who recorded 16 points. This is a season where Wolfpack fans have wanted to see more from Rivers and they saw a step in the right direction today.
As NC State moves forward, it will look to keep Rivers and James involved. It also needs to figure out its center situation as TCU will be far from the only team it plays that will try to punish the Pack physically inside, especially during ACC play.
The Wolfpack plays its next game on Thursday against Coastal Carolina. The game is slated to start at 5 p.m. at Reynolds Coliseum.
