N.C . State continued its ACC woes by dropping its third straight conference game to the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils, 83-59.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game–a physical game for us,” Coach Kellie Harper said. “We knew that our defensive effort was going to be huge. When you give up 83 points to this team, you’re not going to win. They’re just too tough on the defensive end.”
The Blue Devils drew first blood with a layup from senior guard Chelsea Gray, but State’s sophomore center Kody Burke responded with a put-back of her own to get the Pack on the board.
Despite the man-to-man press look from the Wolfpack , Duke went on an 11-0 tear with the score standing at 21-8 until sophomore guard Breezy Williams broke the cold streak with a three from the right side of the wing off of an assist from junior guard Emili Tasler .
Duke maintained control of the paint throughout the first half. The Devils scored 26 points in the painted area and out-rebounded State 24 to 13.
Junior guard Marissa Kastanek made a valiant effort to keep the game within reach for the Pack throughout the first half. Two free throws from Kastanek closed the gap to single digits as she ripped off seven straight points for the Pack.
After the Blue Devils attempted to pull away again, sophomore guard Myisha Goodwin-Coleman pulled the gap to single digits with a bomb of a three-pointer from near half-court, leaving the score at 42-33 going into the half.
Duke jumped on the Pack again in a full court zone press to start the second half, which garnered a steal and layup from sophomore forward Richa Jackson early in the half. They also forced 19 N.C . State turnovers in the second half.
“They’re so long,” senior forward Bonae Holston said. “They’re [going to] get their arms up. It seems like they’re in the passing lanes. They always seem to be in front of you.”
“We were trying to do some things just to make something happen,” Harper said. “We lost our focus, and unfortunately, we had to play a lot of minutes there. Our kids are used to playing a quicker rotation.”
The Blue Devils also scored a highlight play with a Gray inbound pass from the baseline off Tasler’s back to go up by 14.
The Pack was able to survive the storm with another three from Goodwin-Coleman on a fast break to reduce the deficit to eight.
The following play, a layup from junior forward Lakeesha Daniel pulled the score to within six, which is the closest to the lead that State would come the entire afternoon.
The Pack was not able to capitalize off its momentum, and Duke pulled away to seal the deal. A three from sophomore Ticia Liston pushed the Devils lead to 15 with over four minutes left.
The Wolfpack women return to conference play on Thursday when they face the Boston College Eagles at Reynold’s Coliseum at 7 p.m .
