N.C . State bounced back from its heart-breaking loss to Virginia by pummeling the Longwood Lancers, 74-55.
The team was lead by freshman forward Erica Donovan off the bench with 14 points, 3 assists, and 7 rebounds, a career high, and five of which were on the offensive glass.
State didn’t come out as sharp as one would expect against an independent. Freshman guard Krystal Barrett, who made her first start for the Pack in place of junior guard Marissa Kastanek , who was out with an ankle injury, committed two turnovers on back-to-back series down the court. Barrett finished the game with 7 points and 5 rebounds for the game.
After its rough patch, the Wolfpack got on somewhat of a never-ending run on the Lancers. The Pack ripped open a 19-0 run through the latter part of the first half that was lead by sophomore center Kody Burke with 10 points and 5 rebounds in the half.
“This was a good game for us to work on our communication,” Burke said. “Like Kellie said, we didn’t have a scouting report. We had to rely on ourselves just to play basketball, just to win.”
State kept the Lancers at bay on the defensive end of the court with a 2-3 zone, forcing 13 turnovers in the half and scoring 14 points off of them. The Pack also forced Longwood into shooting only 23.1 percent from the field.
“I think we shot about how we do in practice,” Harper said. “For us, we’re still working on feeling comfortable with each other. I know it seems odd to be this late in the season and working on that. There are certain defenses that our team is not as comfortable with and when we start seeing those defenses, that’s where we stopped being aggressive and start being passive, and that’s when our shooting percentages start going down.”
The Pack went into the locker room with a dominant 35-14 lead at the half.
The second half proved to be much of the same dominance from State. The Pack forced another 10 turnovers in the second half to bring the game total to 23 for the Lancers.
The Wolfpack also pushed its lead into the thirties with a layup from freshman forward Therany Dunnigan . Aside from Dunningan , Harper allowed each active player for the Pack to hit the floor.
“I think different kids stepped in to earn some time,” Harper said. “I thought Tia [Bell] really did some good things for us. She really played well in a very small area that probably nobody notices, but I asked her to be stronger and rip down some balls that she wasn’t getting to earlier. She got to three tonight. That little thing, it sounds so minute, but that little thing saved us three possessions.”
State will return to action at Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday in its Hoops 4 Hope matchup against Wake Forest.
