After a tough road loss to the formidable No. 6 Louisville Cardinals, the NC State women’s basketball team overcame a first-half deficit to edge Wake Forest 78-70 Sunday in Winston-Salem.
The Wolfpack (12-6, 3-2 ACC) started off slow, shooting just 1-of-6 from the field. The Demon Deacons (9-10, 0-5 ACC), conversely, came out hot from the field, shooting 4-of-6. Wake maintained the lead for the entire first half, expanding the margin to 13 points with 3:37 remaining in the period.
However, NC State caught fire at that point, and the team went off on a 9-2 run to close the gap. At the half, Wake led 36-30.
The Deacs shot 14-of-31 from the field over the first, with freshman guard Amber Campbell leading the way with 10 points. After shooting poorly early, the Pack ended the half on 6-of-11 shooting, improving its previous total to 37.9 percent. On the upside, it had seven of its eight players contribute to the scoreboard. On the downside, only three of those players made more than one field goal.
Those players included sophomore guard Miah Spencer, who shot 3-of-5 for six points, sophomore forward Jennifer Mathurin, who shot 2-of-4 for six points and redshirt sophomore guard Dominique Wilson, who led the way with seven points on 2-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Slowly but surely, NC State continued to close the gap in the second half until it was finally able to take the lead with a free throw from Wilson with 11:59 left in the game. Wake was able to regain the lead and hold it, until sophomore guard Ashley Williams hit a big three to put the Wolfpack in front 53-50.
After that, Wake Forest cut the deficit to two on a pair of occasions, but NC State didn’t slip up, maintaining the lead for the remainder of the game and leading by as much as nine against its long-time rival.
The Demon Deacons were forced to foul late in the contest, but the Pack responded by making 12-of-13 free throws in the final eight minutes to seal the victory.
Spencer led NC State with 20 points on 6-of-12 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line while adding six rebounds and four assists. Wilson was just behind her with 18 points on 5-of-11 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. Mathurin added 15 points and seven rebounds. Junior center Carlee Schuhmacher fouled out but put up eight points and seven rebounds, including a team-high five offensive boards.
The Pack will look to sweep Wake Forest as the Demon Deacons come to Reynolds Coliseum Sunday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. NC State’s next game will be against another long-time rival, No. 12 UNC-Chapel Hill, as the Wolfpack looks to win the home rematch that takes place on Thursday.
