In the 13th-annual Play4Kay game, NC State earned its 10th ACC win of the season and gave its seniors a great parting gift with its 74-61 victory over Wake Forest on an emotion-filled senior day in Reynolds Coliseum.
Sophomore guard Aislinn Konig played the entire 40 minutes and led the team with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting from distance. It was her second time hitting 20 points this season, with the last time also coming against Wake Forest (12-15, 4-10 ACC). Senior center Akela Maize had an efficient shooting day as well, contributing 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while getting four blocks to become tied for eighth in single-season blocks at NC State (21-6, 10-4 ACC).
This would mark Maize and fellow senior Chelsea Nelson’s last home games, unless the NCAA Tournament committee places a regional in Raleigh. Head coach Wes Moore commented on the seniors’ play and Konig’s shooting towards the team’s win.
“Akela had four points at halftime and she ended up with 18, so she did a nice job there,” Moore said. “She’s improved so much and she was really consistent for us today. When we got the ball inside, it was usually a good result. And then Chelsea almost had a double-double, I think one rebound shy. Chelsea is Chelsea, she plays extremely hard and makes things happen… Aislinn knocked down some threes for us at some pivotal times. I think a lot of people contributed to getting it done today.”
Wake Forest got off to a fast start as it went 4 for 4 from the 3-point line in the first five minutes to storm out to a 14-7 lead. The Wolfpack couldn’t get going offensively and kept throwing errant passes, resulting in five turnovers within six minutes. But once State found its rhythm, the team came back quickly.
Nelson ended the Wolfpack’s almost four-minute drought with a mid-range jumper, and prompted an 8-2 run to finish out the quarter. The run ended with an and-one bucket by redshirt junior Kiara Leslie with one second left to bring State within one, 18-17.
The second quarter started off similar to how the first ended, with Leslie getting a layup, which gave the Wolfpack its first lead since 2-0. The pace visibly picked up in the second, with both teams attempting to get buckets early in the shot clock. This was especially evident over the one-minute stretch from three to two minutes left, when Wake Forest scored six, with two 3-pointers by Elisa Penna, and State scored five, with a three from Konig and a layup by Nelson.
Overall, the second quarter was a big improvement for the Pack as it managed to take care of the ball and turn it over only one time. The biggest problem for State came from the inability to stop Penna, who dropped 20 points in the first half. She went 5 for 6 from long range and a perfect 3 for 3 from the free-throw line to keep Wake Forest in the game. The half finished with the Wolfpack up 40-34.
The third quarter was when State started to pull away. It began with Maize getting an and-one layup to give the Pack its biggest lead of the game at nine and never stopped from there. The Wolfpack followed it up with a 12-2 run where it hounded Wake on defense, only allowing two points in the first seven minutes. Konig and Maize had 18 of the Pack’s 21 points this quarter as they took advantage of the hot shooting to free up Maize down low.
“By Aislinn hitting shots and a lot of players hitting threes, they had to guard them,” Maize said. “So they didn’t collapse as much on me and Chelsea, so we were able to hit a lot of our shots.”
State did a good job getting to the line and made seven free throws in the quarter, which equaled its total from the first half. They also did a much better job guarding Penna, as the Pack only allowed her to score five points and took a 61-45 lead heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter began with some hot shooting by Konig, who drained her first two 3-pointers to give the Wolfpack an 18-point lead. After a free throw by Leslie and a layup by Maize, the Pack had its largest lead of the game at 21, with a score of 70-49.
Over the next five minutes, Wake would go on a 12-2 run of its own, that saw Penna hit three perimeter shots to bridge the gap and make it an 11-point game with two minutes remaining. Penna would finish with a game high 34 points and tie the Wake Forest record for threes in a game with nine. Fortunately for the Wolfpack, that would be the last basket the Demon Deacons scored, and the Pack would hold on to win by 13.
The team will go on the road for its final two ACC conference games of the season. Moore commented on the importance of the team’s win on its last home game.
“I think it was really important. We needed to get the 10th win in the conference and maintain our position,” Moore said. “This team’s played well on the road so we need to continue to do that. But there’s no doubt that we needed to protect the home court.”
Moore further explained his hopes for the team in the near future.
“Couldn’t be prouder of this group,” Moore said. “Hopefully we can keep it going, keep the momentum going, continue to get better. That’s what the good teams do. Hopefully in March we’ll be playing better than we are right now.”
The Wolfpack will play next against Pittsburgh this Thursday in Pennsylvania at 7 p.m.
