After losing its last two games at home, No. 10 NC State women’s basketball was looking to avoid an unprecedented third straight home loss against Virginia.
The Wolfpack (13-3, 3-2 ACC) made sure that didn’t happen, putting in a balanced scoring effort and leading for nearly the entire game to rout the Cavaliers (13-3, 2-3 ACC) 87-62.
“I thought our energy and urgency was a little better today,” said head coach Wes Moore. “We’re gonna have to have that — this league is really, really good. If you don’t bring it every night, you’re gonna have a lot of disappointment. It was good to shoot the ball better.”
Five NC State players finished in double figures: senior forward Jada Boyd with 13, senior center Camille Hobby and graduate forward Mimi Collins with 12 each, and graduate center River Baldwin and junior guard Diamond Johnson with 10 apiece.
For Johnson, this was her second game back since an injury on Dec. 11 against USF, and after coming off the bench on Thursday night against Boston College, Johnson returned to the starting lineup. She made her presence felt right away, scoring seven in the first quarter to give the Pack a 20-15 lead after the first 10 minutes.
“It just felt good to be able to play as soon as I could,” Johnson said. “I’m just happy to be back with my team and I’m ready to get this thing rolling.”
After Johnson, Baldwin was the star of the second quarter, scoring nine and doing tough work inside by grabbing rebounds and drawing fouls. NC State outscored Virginia by an almost identical 21-15 in the second 10 minutes and took a 41-30 lead into halftime.
In its two previous home losses, NC State was outscored in the second half each time, so the Pack’s 27-point third-quarter performance was encouraging. Junior guard Madison Hayes scored eight of her nine points in the period, and not only did she get it done on offense but also on defense, tallying a ridiculous seven blocks, which is tied for second-most in a game in program history.
“I just happened to be on the block, and I’m standing straight up because coach Moore doesn’t like blocked shots, he said at the beginning of the game,” Hayes said. “I just keep my hands up because I don’t want to get a foul. They didn’t really call a lot of fouls tonight, so glad I got seven blocks.”
NC State outscored Virginia 19-11 in the fourth quarter for the 25-point win. The Pack has learned the last couple weeks that nothing in the ACC comes easy, and a win with a healthy lineup against an up-and-coming Virginia squad is a step in the right direction after two tough home games.
Next up, the Pack has one of the more challenging portions of its schedule with a road trip to Florida State before a highly anticipated matchup against UNC in Chapel Hill.
“We won a big game at Iowa; we gotta refind that, I don’t know what it was,” Moore said. “We’ve been playing at home, now we’ve gotta go on the road. We’re gonna have to try to figure out a way to play well there and to have the mental toughness to overcome the home-court advantage they’ll have.”
NC State faces Florida State at 6 p.m on Thursday, Jan. 12 and UNC-Chapel Hill Sunday, Jan. 15 at 3:30 p.m.
