Disappointment is a great teacher. Just days after putting up eight fourth-quarter points in a loss to Clemson, NC State women’s basketball held SMU to nine points in the opening quarter of a 91-54 win.
Scoring over 90 points for just the third time this season, the Wolfpack (12-5, 5-1 ACC) dominated both ends of the floor, keeping the Mustangs (7-10, 0-5 ACC) out of the paint on defense and exerting its will freely on offense. NC State came out of the gates with a different energy, outrebounding SMU 51-26 and getting five players into double scoring figures, including a season-high 16 points from junior guard Qadence Samuels.
“Last game was a loss we gave up that we know we shouldn’t have,” said junior forward Khamil Pierre, the ACC’s leading rebounder.
Pierre led the team in rebounding with 12 boards, and sophomore forward Tilda Trygger bolstered Pierre’s efforts with 10 of her own. The Wolfpack manhandled SMU on the glass all night, scoring 16 second-chance points.
“Really proud of the job on the boards … I always think rebounding is the most important part of the game,” said head coach Wes Moore, who is in his 13th season at the helm of NC State.
Also beneficial to the Wolfpack was 3-point shooting. Recovering from a 4-for-19 3-point-shooting effort against Clemson, the Wolfpack made eight of its 22 attempts against SMU.
“I think we’re a better 3-point shooting team than we have shown,” Moore said. “I’ve probably been disappointed in that more than a lot of things.”
Halfway through the first quarter, sophomore guard Zamareya Jones returned to the court for NC State after missing the team’s only conference loss with an injury. She made her presence felt, notching 15 points in 19 minutes and playing high-energy defense.
“We did miss her, obviously she can shoot the three, she’s great at distributing the ball, and quick on D,” Moore said.
In its loss to Clemson, the Wolfpack only scored two fastbreak points while giving up 20. Tonight, NC State had 18 to SMU’s 11.
“That was definitely a point of conversation at halftime … I think we ought to be a team that can run, but you know, you gotta want to do it,” Moore said. “We don’t do it well enough often enough.”
NC State had no problem getting where it wanted to on offense for most of the game. The only hiccup came in the second quarter when SMU threw out a zone, and the Wolfpack couldn’t get the ball into the paint.
“The good thing is we saw it before the half, so we were able to talk about it at halftime … that made a big difference,” Moore said.
Coming out of halftime, the Wolfpack eviscerated the Mustangs’ zone on its way to a 30-point quarter. 3-point makes from Jones and Samuels contributed to a 16-0 run that got the home crowd rocking.
“It’s a whole different me when I’m at NC State, I’m just smiling every time, I feel like it’s just fun to me,” Samuels said.
Next up, the Wolfpack hit the road to take on nearby Wake Forest with a 6 p.m. tipoff set for Thursday, Jan. 15.
