The NC State women’s basketball team (3-0) dominated the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs (0-2) on the way to a 87-55 victory at Reynolds Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Junior guard Kiara Leslie was a perfect shot going 8 for 8 on the night with a game-high 22 points. The Wolfpack also set season high marks with 10 3-pointers and 19 assists.
“On the surface a lot of things look good but when you look closely at it, we still have a lot of things we need to clean up and get better at,” head coach Wes Moore said. “Defensively [we had] some breakdowns and then offensively [there were] too many turnovers in the second half…Keep working [and] get back out there.”
The Wolfpack took a few minutes to warm up in shooting before coming into form in the first quarter. Senior center Akela Maize took an offensive rebound for a put back, was fouled and made her free throw to open scoring with a three point play.
Senior forward Chelsea Nelson led the way for a stingy Pack defense that allowed only seven points and one field goal in the first quarter with four steals. Sophomore guard Aislinn Konig made three 3-pointers as NC State headed into the second quarter with a 25-7 lead.
Leslie came off of the bench in the second quarter with two consecutive shots from downtown, adding to the Wolfpack’s lead. Redshirt sophomore Kaila Ealey also led the team with five assists in the first half. NC State continued to make the open threes as they shot 7-16 from beyond the arch as they went into halftime with a 47-25 lead.
“Ball movement was important,” Leslie said. “It gave people open shots. A lot of us got open threes and it all came through ball movement inside and out.”
Coming into the third quarter, State transitioned from man-to-man defensive coverage to a zone layout which saw the Bulldogs open up more on offense. The Wolfpack was able to keep momentum with 9 points in the third quarter from Maize, including a span where she scored 7 points in 50 seconds.
Leslie made the play of the game with a half-court buzzer beater to lead the Bulldogs 71-43 going into the final quarter.
“I looked at the clock and there was one second left,” Leslie said. “I heard them tell me to shoot it, so I just shot it the best way I could and it went in.”
With a commanding lead and some players getting into foul trouble, Moore played a few different lineups to give some newer players experience and experiment with lineups.
“It was good to have a game where a lot of people could get involved and have opportunities to get out there and show what they can do,” Moore said. “Normally when we take out Maize we’ll put Chelsea down there. And we did that a little bit tonight but with the score being what it was we played some different people in there. I thought Erika Cassell did a good job when she was in there.”
Maize echoed her coach as she played only 15 minutes because of her four fouls.
“With these early games, I think it is beneficial to sit on the bench and let other people be productive in the game and get a lot of experience,” Maize said. “I’m not looking for selfish means so it’s not really negative.”
The Wolfpack will return to the court against South Alabama Friday in Reynolds Coliseum at 7 p.m.
