The No. 4 NC State women’s basketball team will travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Thursday, Feb. 18. The Pack is currently 13-2 so far this season.
Coming off its most recent win at home against Clemson, the Pack will look to pick up a road win, with both of its losses this season coming on the road.
This will be the first game the Pack will play this week, due to a recent postponement when the team was originally slated to face off against Notre Dame Feb. 15 for its 16th annual Play4Kay game at Reynolds Coliseum.
In the Pack’s most recent win, senior forward Kayla Jones led NC State against Clemson with 21 points and went 8-of-10 from the field. NC State shot at least 50% for three of the four quarters.
Three other Pack players managed to score in double figures, including sophomore wing Jakia Brown-Turner with 13 points, sophomore center Camille Hobby with 12 points and junior center Elissa Cunane with 11 points.
NC State and Wake Forest last met Dec. 17, 2020, when the Pack defeated the Demon Deacons 79-65 inside of Reynolds Coliseum. The Pack is currently 74-14 against the in-state rival.
Just like NC State, Wake Forest is coming off a recent 72-65 win over the Clemson Tigers. The Demon Deacons are currently 11-8, recently picking up their eighth win in conference play.
This is the seventh consecutive road win Wake Forest has picked up against Clemson since the 2010-11 season.
Forward Ivana Raca led the Demon Deacons with a team-high of 20 points, recording 14 points in the first half against the Tigers. Guard Gina Conti finished the game with a total of eight assists, which would be her second-highest total this season.
Wake Forest led by as much as 22 points the entire game and just 16 points in the first half.
Raca and Conti lead the team in scoring, averaging 16.4 and 15.4 points per game, respectively. Race is also a capable rebounder, leading the team with 9.6 boards per game. The duo is joined by Christina Morra and Jewel Spear as double-digit scorers, with Morra averaging 10.9 points on high efficiency while Spear is a strong knockdown shooter from deep, shooting 40.4% from that range.
In the last game against Wake, Spear knocked down 4-of-6 3-pointers while Morra put up 13 points. Conti and Race were held to just 12 combined points on 5-of-17 shooting, so look for those two to rebound from those performances in this game.
This will be an exciting matchup to watch, as Wake Forest will head into Thursday night just as fired up as NC State, especially with a home advantage.
NC State will tip off with Wake Forest Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. inside of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The game will be televised on the Regional Sports Network.
