The No. 17 NC State women’s basketball team defeated the Golden Flashes of Kent State Sunday afternoon in Reynolds Coliseum by a score of 78-61.
Led by almost perfect outside shooting by junior guard Aislinn Konig, the Wolfpack (2-0) used its inside-out game to take advantage of the shorter Golden Flashes (0-2). Konig went 5-for-6 from long distance for all of her 15 points to tie the team lead with fellow junior guard Grace Hunter.
“It’s something I prepare for, but without the team executing plays and finding me when I’m open, I won’t have the opportunity to hit those,” Konig said. “I think that during the game, I’m not really thinking about whether or not this shot is going in, but for myself, I’m thinking about I need to hit this shot, so that we can go back, get a stop and get a scoring run going.”
The guard combination of Hunter and Konig has proven to be a recipe for success early in the season. Konig’s outside shooting and Hunter’s playmaking ability complement one another and lead to easy baskets for the team.
It was a slow start for both teams, taking over three minutes to break the scoreless tie. Sloppy play all around saw a bevy of turnovers and fouls in the first quarter, with the Wolfpack committing four fouls and six turnovers and Kent State committing seven fouls and seven turnovers.
“Just too many breakdowns, mistakes defensively,” head coach Wes Moore said. “We gotta clean it up and be a little more focused as far as offensively taking care of it and defensively moving our feet, playing D with our bodies instead of our hands.”
Hot shooting remedied these issues for the Pack as it went 7-of-11 from the field with Konig and graduate guard Kiera Leslie going perfect from beyond the arc hitting three 3-pointers. NC State managed to hold the Golden Flashes to 5-for-25 shooting and finished with a 20-7 edge at the end of the first 10 minutes.
The second quarter saw Konig continue her hot shooting, nailing back-to-back 3’s to give the Pack what would be its biggest lead at the time, 32-11. Hunter started heating up as well, getting a steal that led to a fast-break layup and following that up with a three of her own.
Kent State picked up the defense after that and held the Pack scoreless for the last two minutes of the half to cut into the deficit 39-20.
“I did think the first half we played better, we played with a little more energy, a little more urgency,” Moore said. “Last game I thought first half we were a little sluggish, and then today I thought the second half we were a little sluggish. It was too sloppy. It wasn’t fun to watch.”
The Pack maintained the lead in the second half, but it was actually outscored by Kent State, 41-39. Kent State guard Megan Carter was the driving force behind her team’s impressive second half, as she dropped in 22 points, including 12 after halftime.
“Watching it and seeing how we played — they got more offensive rebounds than we did, they outscored us in the second half,” Moore said. “There’s just so many things that, you know, maybe [the players] don’t worry about, but we’re not going to shoot like this every day.”
The Wolfpack caught fire from beyond the arc in the third, nailing 4 of 6 3-pointers from three different players. After the Golden Flashes cut the lead to just 14, sophomore guard Kai Crutchfield drilled a three after a perfect pass from Hunter, who also finished with four assists. This started the barrage of 3’s for the Pack as Hunter hit a step-back, Leslie hit an open one, and Crutchfield nailed another to end the quarter.
The fourth began with another Konig 3 to put the Wolfpack up 61-40, but the main scoring came from down low where Leslie and sophomore Kayla Jones dominated in the paint. Leslie finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds while Jones put up eight points and five rebounds. After extending the lead to 26, the Wolfpack let up a bit and Kent State took advantage with a 9-0 run to end the game.
“You know, I’m always thinking too, we’re trying to win fans,” Moore said. “We’d like to draw more people, so we need to play well, execute, and make it where it’s something they want to come back and see again. I don’t know that we accomplished that today.”
The Wolfpack will be back in action at Reynolds Coliseum on Thursday night to face the Vanderbilt Commodores at 7 p.m.
