No. 20 NC State women’s basketball traveled to the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in Nassau, Bahamas and took on Southern University in a Monday morning matchup.
The Wolfpack (4-2), coming off an 89-68 win over Coastal Carolina a few days prior, started the game against the Jaguars (0-7) slow but a 32-point fourth quarter gave the Pack a dominating 77-47 win.
Southern didn’t go down without a fight in the first half of the game. Coming into the Baha Mar Championship 0-6, the Jaguars have had one of the country’s toughest non-conference slates, including nine Power 4 opponents.
The game started slow for the Pack, scoring just 14 points in the first quarter, allowing the Jaguars to stay in it. Sophomore guard Zoe Brooks tallied her first points of the matchup and became a consistent figure on the scorecard through the rest of the matchup, finishing with a game-high 17 points.
Once again, head coach Wes Moore reached deep into his bench players to pull out a win, instead of relying fully on his superstar senior guards Saniya Rivers and Aziaha James. While the duo did play in the matchup, they only totaled a combined 17 points, one of their worst showings this season. While it was a slow day for the veterans, it was a promising showing from the young guns, with both Brooks and freshman guard Zamareya Jones taking over on the court.
The second frame was another back-and-forth between the two teams, with Brooks carrying the Pack through the quarter with nine of NC State’s 15 points. Brooks was the only player who could get going offensively in the first half as the rest of her teammates combined for 17 points on 7-24 shooting.
Many of NC State’s points in the first half and third quarter came from the free throw line, with the team making 13 attempts through the three quarters. It helped that the Pack was playing hard defense, finishing with 32 defensive rebounds and 21 points off turnovers.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Wolfpack truly came to life. NC State dominated in the final 10 minutes, outsourcing Southern 32-9. The Pack put this game away thanks to a large effort by Jones. With 10 points in the fourth frame alone, Jones helped lead the Pack to shoot 73% from the field and 60% from beyond the arc, all while holding the Jaguars to single-digit points.
Finishing with a 77-47 win over the Jaguars, the Pack goes 1-0 through the first day of the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship. NC State will take on either LSU or Washington on Wednesday, Nov. 27. The championship game will follow at 1:30 p.m. with coverage streamed on FloCollege.
