In a game dominated by Boston College’s inside play, it was back-to-back three-pointers that finished off N.C. State Monday night, as the Wolfpack fell to the Eagles 75-66 in Reynolds Coliseum.
State (13-7, 3-4 ACC) was outscored 32-14 in the paint, and allowed Boston College’s front court to score nearly two-thirds of the point total for the Eagles (15-6, 2-4).
“Their post players are really big, strong and physical and they post up really hard and try to get us really deep,” center Tiffany Stansbury said. “Sometimes our positioning wasn’t that great and that’s why we got those petty fouls.”
State started the game off slowly and was ice cold from the field, shooting a bitter 39-percent in the first half, but was able to take the lead at halftime thanks to a brilliant 19 seconds of play from Billie McDowell.
“We were down and when I went in I just said I was going to give it my all because we really needed to make a run before the half was over,” McDowell said.
McDowell’s personal five-point run came on a three-pointer as the half wound to a close, then a steal on the ensuing inbounds pass, which ended up in two free throws after a foul prevented her from scoring an easy lay-up. The five-point swing put State ahead 34-32.
“Those were really big plays right there,” Yow said. “They really turned it around in almost a split second.”
Unfortunately for State, the Pack could not capitalize on McDowell’s momentum heading into the second half of play, when the poor shooting turned to a deep freeze as they managed just 34-percent from the field, and made just two of the nine three pointers they attempted.
“I was concerned at halftime because I didn’t feel we were being aggressive enough offensively,” Yow said. “We weren’t penetrating hard enough and we weren’t going enough north and south, we were going too much east and west. B.C. did a great job, they really sagged way back and made sure they tried to cover from the inside-out, and they were quick to get out.”
With 10 minutes left in the contest, Maquetta Dickens brought State within three points on a jump shot in the paint, but the Pack were slow to rotate on defense and allowed a three-pointer on two straight possessions, which put the game virtually out of reach.
“It just seemed in the second half that the defensive intensity just was not there until the last four or five minutes,” Yow said. “In the last four or five minutes we really picked it up and played the way we wish we could’ve played in the second half.”
As State attempted to climb back into the game with the clock ticking away under three minutes, a blown assignment gave the Eagles a fast break lay-up to once again kill all garnered momentum.
“Q [Dickens] went to the four and had a big person when she’s used to being on the ball,” Yow said. “They had a guard taking the ball out rather than an inside player, so right after the substitution happened we got really confused with that.”
A last ditch attempt came up short for State as they cut the lead to five points with 34 seconds remaining, but clutch free throw shooting salted away the last seconds of the game.
“Of course it was a disappointing loss for us because we know how important it is to win ACC home games, and so not to pick this game up tonight means we really have to come through somewhere and win a game or two somewhere that nobody expects us to win,” Yow said.
State was able to hold Boston College’s leading scorer to just two points on the game, but let the Eagles out-rebound them by seven, while giving up 11 second-chance points.
“That was part of our game plan to attack the inside,” Eagles’ center Lisa Macchia said. “We were looking to get it inside and that would open up the outside if they start doubling, so looking to get it in was definitely a goal of ours this game.”
