Just three days after a heartbreaking 67-63 loss to No. 10 UNC-Chapel Hill, the NC State women’s basketball team dropped a second consecutive game, this time to No. 23 Syracuse, by a score of 66-49.
In its 100th meeting against the Tar Heels (17-4, 4-3 ACC), the Wolfpack (12-8, 3-4 ACC) started off with a quick five points but went on a five-minute scoring drought. Fortunately for the Pack, the Heels struggled early as well, starting just 2-of-18 from the field during that span.
“It was a rival game, so we were both anxious and there was a lot of intensity,” redshirt senior guard Len’Nique Brown-Hoskin said. “We needed to calm down, and finally we did toward the end of the half.”
NC State led for the entirety of the half. However, after a slow start, North Carolina ended the final six minutes of the half on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 26-21.
“I was disappointed we didn’t have a bigger lead because of how slow they started out offensively,” head coach Wes Moore said. “Unfortunately, we joined them, as both of us struggled to put the ball in the hoop early on.”
The Pack came out of the break hot, going on a 7-0 run in a 1:19 span to extend the lead to 35-25. However, the Tar Heels countered with a full-court press, forcing three consecutive turnovers on inbound attempts.
“There’s no doubt that it killed our momentum,” Moore said. “You can’t afford lapses like that against a good team, and it came back to bite us.”
Slowly but surely, North Carolina closed the gap. It was a close game from then on, as the game featured five lead changes and two ties.
However, once the Heels took the lead with three minutes left, they didn’t look back, and despite multiple strong efforts from the Pack, the team simply couldn’t finish the game after leading for 33 minutes of the game.
Brown-Hoskin led all scorers with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Jennifer Mathurin totaled 14 points and added six rebounds. Despite fouling out near the end of the game, redshirt sophomore Dominique Wilson put up a double-double, totaling 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“This was a heartbreaking loss,” Moore said. “When you lead at home for 33 minutes, you have to find a way to get it done, but I am proud of the way our kids competed. We needed a signature win, but we were unable to finish it up.”
Just three days after the narrow loss to Chapel Hill, NC State didn’t fare any better against new ACC rival Syracuse (15-5, 5-2 ACC), losing 66-49 in the team’s first trip to the Carrier Dome.
The first half was a game of runs, as the Pack once again started out hot, jumping out to a 6-2 lead in just its fifth-ever meeting with the Orange.
Syracuse then fired back with a 10-0 run to take a 12-6 lead. Right as it seemed as if the Orange was going to run away with the game, NC State responded with a 7-1 run to tie the game at 13 points apiece.
The two new rivals went back in forth for the remainder of the half, but the Pack held the Orange to zero field goals in the last 8:30 to take a 29-26 lead heading into the break. Syracuse blocked seven shots, six of which came from sophomore forward Briana Day. NC State shot 5-of-14 from beyond the arc while holding Syracuse to 2-of-16.
The Pack started the next half with a three-pointer from Wilson. However, it was all downhill from there, as the Orange went on a dominant 23-0 run to take a commanding 49-32 lead with 11:06 remaining on the game clock. ‘Cuse controlled the game from then on.
Wilson tied the team lead with 12 points, and added five rebounds and two assists. Mathurin also posted 12 points, and was just short of a double-double after adding nine rebounds.
The Pack looks to end its losing streak in a road contest against Virginia Thursday at 7 p.m. in Charlottesville, Virginia.
