Women’s basketball handles Dolphins for season-opening victory

The NC State women’s basketball team opened its 2017-18 season with a 64-44 victory over the Jacksonville Dolphins at Reynolds Coliseum.

With 46 points in the paint and a strong defensive performance forcing 19 turnovers and recording 10 steals, the Wolfpack was led by senior center Akela Maize, who scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, which were both career highs.

“We were feeding off of each other’s energy,” Maize said. “My teammates were definitely passing the ball and looking for me in the post. I was focusing in and finished a lot of shots… I’ve came a long way.”

The Wolfpack (1-0) took advantage of seven first-quarter turnovers by the Dolphins (0-1) and led 20-10 at the first break. Eight of those points were from Maize. Senior forward Chelsea Nelson also impressed in the first quarter shooting 3 for 3 from the field, recording two assists and two steals. Nelson also finished the game with a career-high and game-leading 24 points and eight rebounds.

“I think we just play really well together, just knowing where we are on the floor and playing until the end,” Nelson said. “I had really positive energy from all my teammates. This year, playing with Akela, it is a lot of excitement. We just feed off of each other.”

After making 50 percent of its shots in the first quarter, the Wolfpack struggled to find a rhythm as it shot 14.3 percent in the second. The Dolphins got the game within four points with a 3-pointer with less than two minutes left in the half. NC State ended the second quarter only making one of its last 14 shots and did not score a field goal in the last 4:20 of the first half. The score at halftime was a 29-24 NC State advantage.

It did not take long for NC State to fix its offensive woes of the second quarter with Nelson scoring a layup off of an assist from Maize to open the second half. The Wolfpack then scored on eight-consecutive possessions, highlighted by a steal by sophomore Lucky Rudd that resulted in a fast break, layup and foul to make it a three-point play that put the Pack up 41-24 with 6:30 left in the third quarter.

The Dolphins did not score after halftime until the 5:37 mark of the third quarter and were down by as many as 20 in the frame. Jacksonville ended the quarter with a stronger offensive push including a 3-pointer as time expired to trail 49-35.

“It felt like, offensively, we needed to pay attention to details a little better and try to get the ball inside,” head coach Wes Moore said. “A big key to the second half was getting out defensively and getting some stops and turn them over. That lead to some transition buckets and any time you get easy buckets it gives you some confidence and momentum. We rode that in the third quarter.”

State continued stout defense as it allowed only nine fourth-quarter points including a four-minute scoreless streak as the Dolphins only made one of their last 13 shots.

On offense, the Wolfpack finished out the game with a three-point play by redshirt sophomore guard Kaila Ealey, who also led the team with 10 rebounds on the night, after a layup and foul with 3:39 left in the game. Rudd scored the last points of the game with a 3-pointer off of an assist from freshman guard Kai Crutchfield.

With several new members, the Wolfpack played 12 different players and tried several different combinations in order to find the best set of players moving on with the regular season. Nelson and Maize aim to provide leadership on and off the court for the team.

“Obviously, we were not shooting the ball well from the outside, so it was critical to have Akela and Chelsea taking care of business inside and giving us a good scoring option,” Moore said. “We gotta keep grinding, keep pounding it in there. I know for some of the new players it’s like taking a sip of water out of a fire hydrant. They kind of got a little overwhelmed. We just got to keep going.”

The Wolfpack continue its season on Sunday as it hosts Davidson.