Coming off another convincing win against Old Dominion, the NC State women’s basketball team is tied atop the ACC with a 5-0 record to start the 2017-18 campaign.
The Wolfpack will face its toughest competition so far this season when it travels to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to face the 4-0 Alabama Crimson Tide on Thursday.
State recorded its first road victory on Monday night as it bested the Monarchs 73-56.
Senior forward Chelsea Nelson led the way for the Pack in scoring with 17 points. Redshirt sophomore Kaila Ealey almost notched a triple-double as she dropped 8 points, nine assists and 12 rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Kiara Leslie also made contributions in the victory scoring 15 points and grabbing seven boards off the glass.
Rebounding, ball movement and fast scoring in the opening quarter have been staples for the Wolfpack in its first five games. Nelson is one of the four players on the team with over 10 points per game as she leads the team with an average of 14.8 per contest and shooting 60 percent on the young season.
Senior center Akela Maize is also shooting over 60 percent with 11.6 points, five rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Leslie has been a big spark off the bench for State with 11.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Alabama matches up almost perfectly with NC State’s statistics this year and has been excellent on both sides of the ball, averaging 78.5 points a game, including a 90-32 smack of Alabama A&M, and allowing only .298 field goal percentage to opposing teams.
Like the Wolfpack, the Tide has multiple scorers averaging over 10 points a game. Alabama is led by senior guard Hannah Cook who averages 13.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
Other leaders for the Tide are senior guard Meoshonti Knight who averages 12.5 points per contest and senior forward Ashley Williams who is shooting 59.1 percent from the field, averaging 11 points a game and leads the team in rebounding with an average of eight boards per game.
Alabama has played in close games this year as they came from behind to win against the 3-1 Utah Utes, where ball movement and strong defense from Utah almost upset the Tide.
Alabama and NC State have both notched victories over Jacksonville this season. NC State won in more dominating fashion 64-44 while the Tide struggled in the first half before pulling away 75-60.
NC State and Alabama are very similar in the stat books; however, each team has distinct advantages. The Wolfpack boasts an offense with better shot percentages and assist totals, while the Tide have been more stingy on defense than State, forcing 18.3 turnovers per game and allowing only an average of 47 points from opponents per game.
The key difference that could decide this otherwise fairly balanced matchup is free throw shooting. The Pack has been dismal from the line this season, hitting just over half of its shots with a percentage of .532. The Crimson Tide has been much more consistent as it has converted 74.2 percent of its free throws. Another factor could be 3-point shooting where Alabama has shot .328 to NC State’s .279.
With the opponents nearly equal to each other on paper, this potentially exciting matchup could be decided by which team has the fastest start and who controls the rebounds throughout the game.
