Senior day was spoiled Sunday afternoon in Reynolds Coliseum, as the NC State women’s basketball team fell to the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 67-60.

After starting out with a 5-2 lead, the Pack (16-13, 7-9 ACC) gave up a 9-0 run in the opening minutes to give the Irish (28-2, 15-1 ACC) an early 11-5 advantage.

Although trailing by as many as 10 points in the first half, the Wolfpack went on to shorten the deficit to six points and trailed 37-31 at halftime. Redshirt senior guard Len’Nique Brown-Hoskin and redshirt sophomore guard Dominique Wilson led the Wolfpack in scoring with 10 points apiece at the break.

NC State struggled to attack the ball off the glass, getting out rebounded by a total of 25-16, including giving up 19 defensive rebounds to the Irish.

Despite committing 10 turnovers in the first half, the Wolfpack only surrendered nine points off of turnovers, while scoring 10 points off of the Irish’s six turnovers.

When the second half started, NC State was able to cut Notre Dame’s lead to four with 15:33 left in the game. However, the Irish sparked a change in momentum by getting  hot from three-point range, hitting three straight shots from beyond the arc during a 15-4 run over 5:35 span to give them a 56-41 lead.

Despite winning the turnover battle 21-13, the Wolfpack held only a 17-14 edge in the points off turnovers category. Additionally, NC State shot just 38.3 percent from the field and 4-of-20 from three point range, while Notre Dame shot 54 percent from the field and 6-of-16 from three-point range. 

“You can’t fault our effort,” head coach Wes Moore said. “Our kids played extremely hard, but their points off turnovers really killed us.”

Brown-Hoskin left the court after tallying 16 points, two rebounds and a standing ovation from the crowd at Reynolds in her final regular season game with the Pack. Wilson finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds and two steals. Sophomore guard Miah Spencer also had a strong game, tallying 12 points, two rebounds and a game-high four steals.

Despite the loss, there was a touching moment toward the end of the game when senior guard Krystal Barrett, despite tearing her ACL earlier in the season, came on the court and hit a three-pointer. Barrett only played 12 games in her final season due to the injury.

“That shot meant a lot to me. That summed up my season,” Barrett said. “I worked really hard to get that shot. After everything I went through, I feel like I deserved the opportunity to take that shot.”

Due to the injury, Barrett was strongly advised to limit her physical activity. However, that did not stop her from entering what was the final game of her college career.

“I’ll probably hear about it from the team doctors about that one,” Moore said. “But it was worth it. She is a special player and has become one of my favorites in my short time here.”

With the loss, the Wolfpack finished 10th in the conference and will have the No. 10 seed in the ACC tournament.  The Wolfpack will play the No. 15 seed Virginia Tech Hokies Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.