The No. 7 NC State women’s basketball team overcame a double-digit second-half deficit to beat Duke 63-60 Sunday afternoon inside a Cameron Indoor Stadium that was extremely well-represented by NC State fans.
Behind three huge fourth-quarter 3-pointers from redshirt senior guard Grace Hunter and a monster 27-point, seven-rebound performance by sophomore center Elissa Cunane, the Wolfpack (21-1, 10-1 ACC) fought its way back for a big ACC win over the Tobacco Road rival Blue Devils (11-10, 5-5 ACC).
“I feel very fortunate, these kids did it,” said NC State head coach Wes Moore. “When a team is pressing and they’re playing zone, your kids have to make great decisions and knock down shots and that’s what they did.”
Hunter, against the team she tore her ACL and suffered a number of other knee injuries against last season, knocked down big shot after big shot, putting a bow on her full-circle recovery from a devastating knee injury.
“It was amazing, it was the greatest moment ever,” Hunter said. “I just thank the coaches and my teammates for still believing in me no matter what. I just thank coach Moore for the opportunity.”
Senior guard Aislinn Konig and Duke guard Haley Gorecki went blow-for-blow as the two star guards each answered 3-pointers after each other early on in the second quarter. The fan-favorite seniors put on a show for the evenly-split Cameron Indoor crowd, going at each other all half long. NC State struggled to guard Gorecki all afternoon, and the No. 3 scorer in the ACC finished with 21 points.
The aggressive defense that forced 15 turnovers in the first half and the offensive play of Gorecki kept the Blue Devils even with the Wolfpack. Duke turned its defense into offense toward the middle of the second quarter, going on a 10-1 run across six minutes. It wasn’t until freshman wing Jakia Brown-Turner knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:03 left in the second quarter that NC State ended the run.
The Blue Devils’ late run put them up 27-23 going into halftime, and the turnover-plagued first half for the Pack resulted in just its third halftime deficit of the season.
NC State shot only 39% from the field on 9-for-23 shooting during the first 20 minutes, and made only 1 of 4 attempts from the free-throw line in the first half.
After an old-fashioned 3-point play from Cunane cut the deficit to two points early in the third quarter, Duke went on an 8-0 run across 2:03 to push the lead to 10, forcing Moore to call a timeout.
With the Wolfpack struggling to solve Duke’s press, and scoring at a premium, Cunane went to work. She scored nine of the Wolfpack’s 10 points over a few-minute stretch, pulling NC State within four.
Brown-Turner knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the Duke lead down to one late in the third quarter and after the teams traded baskets for the remaining couple minutes, NC State closed out the period down 45-43.
“You got 15 great teams in this league, it isn’t easy and you’re going to have adversity,” Moore said. “…That’s when you got to compete, and we had a great crowd behind us that helped.”
Cunane scored 13 points in the third quarter, and with Brown-Turner’s seven, the duo combined for all 20 of the Wolfpack’s third-quarter points. The 6-foot-5 center continued to work out of the gate in the fourth quarter, scoring the first six points to give the lead back to NC State.
“We got the ball inside to Elissa Cunane, which is usually a pretty good thing,” Moore said. “8 for 9 from the field, that’s pretty good odds there.”
After Cunane and Brown-Turner had been doing all of the scoring, Hunter hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the corner to tie the game up then give NC State a 55-54 lead after a Duke bucket.
“I’m really, really happy for Grace Hunter,” Moore said. “I know it’s been tough. Great player, she got injured against this same team a year ago. A really devastating injury and has had to fight and battle all year to try to get back to this point. So it’s really great to see her have such an awesome day today.”
Holding a 56-54 lead, Jones made one of the biggest defensive plays of the game, drawing a charge on Gorecki to give the Wolfpack the ball with 52 seconds left in the game.
On the ensuing possession, Hunter found herself open behind the arc again and sank the dagger 3-pointer, her third in a row to give the Wolfpack a 59-54 lead with just over 30 seconds to play and secured NC State’s first win in Durham since 2016.
“I hit the last two [3-pointers], and I was just like ‘Let’s go for it’,” Hunter said.
NC State will be back in action and looks to continue its seven-game win streak Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. on the road against Virginia Tech. The game will be streamed live online on the ACC Network Extra.
Sophomore center Elissa Cunane shoots a free throw against Duke on Sunday, Feb. 2 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Cunane scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Wolfpack won 63-60.
