NC State women’s basketball dominated the glass Thursday night in Reynolds Coliseum, beating the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, head coach Wes Moore’s former team, 74-38.
Despite another slow start shooting the rock, the Pack (11-0) turned it on and pulled away from Chattanooga (1-12) with a 23-0 run in the first half and a 17-0 run in the second half. Sophomore center Elissa Cunane finished the game with 17 points and 7 rebounds, leading the team in both categories.
“I feel like we can play better than we’ve played the last couple of games,” Moore said. “But there’s also a lot to be said for being 11-0. There’s some men’s and women’s teams that have lost some games that you kind of are taken back by. For us to survive that and go into conference play unblemished is what you ask for.”
It was a rough start shooting for NC State, especially from deep, starting 0 for 6 before junior guard Kai Crutchfield finally hit one. At the end of the first quarter, the Pack was 1 for 10 from behind the 3-point line and 6 for 16 overall despite being up 13-10.
“[I] wasn’t particularly pleased with the way we started out again, especially coming off Sunday’s game, where I didn’t think we exactly hit on all cylinders,” Moore said. “It is tough times; just finished exams … It’s good for them to get a break now, but I was pleased, thought we did better in the second half. We took care of the ball better.”
The second quarter was significantly better in all ways. After briefly allowing a tied game, NC State went on the 23-0 run to make it 36-13 before entering the half up 36-17. Cunane led the team and almost put up a first-half double-double with 11 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Aislinn Konig, senior forward Erika Cassell and freshman wing Jakia Brown-Turner had six points each.
“We decided to bring more energy to the table and work more as a team instead of people trying to do one-on-one,” said redshirt senior guard Grace Hunter. “So we just start passing to each other, hyping each other up, and it ended well.”
It was easy to tell from the beginning that the Wolfpack had a major advantage inside, dominating the glass and being the much more physical team in the first half. NC State outrebounded Chattanooga 27-15 at the break. However, it wasn’t the cleanest half, as the Pack turned the ball over eight times to go along with the slow start.
The second half started with much of the same: a heavy dose of Elissa Cunane. She scored six points in the first four minutes, and Chattanooga had practically nobody that could stop her. Similar to the first half, the Pack went on a 17-0 run in the second half to really put this game away.
“Tuesday, we didn’t have [Cunane] do a whole lot. She got beat up really bad Sunday in that Elon game,” Moore said. “It was good to be able to limit her time a little bit. She’s playing at a high level though. I’m tough, always want more, and I think sometimes she needs to do a better job of maintaining contact and sealing and meeting the pass, not falling away from it.”
Moore went to his depth in the second half, not allowing Konig, Crutchfield, Cunane or junior forward Kayla Jones to play more than five minutes. Using the bench not only allows some of them to get more playing time, but prepares everyone to get involved once the team needs depth in ACC games.
“The game is going to get harder and harder, and you’re going to have to use more energy,” Hunter said. “[Moore] being able to have people off the bench that can score and play defense is going to be super important later on in the season.”
The fourth quarter was much like the first quarter, as the pace and scoring slowed down for NC State. To great appreciation of the fans in Reynolds Coliseum, senior guard Katie Wadsworth checked in late in the game for the fifth time this year.
It was a balanced attack for NC State, especially after shots started to fall from long range. Of the 12 players that checked in, nine scored, and seven scored at least six points.
“Definitely pleased to see us sharing the ball and hitting some shots,” Moore said. “We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from 3 in the first half and seemed to do a little better in the second half. We have to realize that sometimes that shot’s not going to go, so we have to make sure we are working inside-out and getting Elissa, or whoever is on the block, touches. We finally started hitting a few of them, but definitely want to keep a balanced attack and not live and die by the 3, as much as I love the 3.”
NC State women’s basketball has finished up nonconference play and will look to its first ACC game at Boston College on Dec. 29 at noon.
Sophomore center Elissa Cunane takes an inside shot against Chattanooga on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019 at Reynolds Coliseum. Cunane recorded a game-high 17 points along with seven rebounds as the Wolfpack won 74-38.
