GREENSBORO – In a back-and-forth battle with a trip to the ACC Tournament final on the line, the NC State women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome Louisville, falling 78-68 Saturday in the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Wolfpack (26-5) shot well throughout the game, making more than 50 percent of its shots, but lost the turnover battle 17-8 to the Cardinals (29-2). Louisville made the Pack pay for those mistakes, tallying 28 points off of turnovers, with a lot of that coming during a 19-0 run for the Cards to end the opening half.
NC State fought back in the second half, even taking a lead at one point, but couldn’t overcome the second-seeded Cardinals.
“I couldn’t be prouder. They fought all day long,” head coach Wes Moore said. “They’ve fought all year. They’ve been amazing. The good news is we still have some basketball ahead of us.”
For the second day in a row freshman forward Elissa Cunane led the Pack in scoring, tallying 20 points. Sophomore guard Kai Crutchfield also had a strong outing, posting 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
“My confidence has definitely increased over the course of the season so far,” Cunane said. “My teammates have really helped me out with that. Going into postseason, I’m just looking forward to the opportunities we’ll have.”
For the Cardinals, guard Asia Durr carried the scoring load with a team-high 22 points, despite a somewhat rough shooting performance. Durr has been an issue for the Wolfpack on more than one occasion this year, as she scored 47 in the Cardinals’ 92-62 dismantling of NC State in February.
The Wolfpack jumped ahead to a 10-4 lead out the gate, knocking down four of its first six shots. Crutchfield hit her first two shots, a 3-pointer and mid-range jumper, with junior guard Aislinn Konig adding a 3-pointer with a hand in her face.
“I just went with the flow of the game,” Crutchfield said. “It was just open shots. I take the open shots and of course sometimes we all second guess ourselves, but I just felt more confident with the confidence that my teammates and my coaches have put in me.”
After Louisville pulled it to a one-point game at 10-9, the Wolfpack went on an 8-0 run to open up an 18-9 lead and force a Cardinals’ timeout. The hot shooting continued for NC State, as the Pack started the game 8 of 11 from the field and 2 for 2 from beyond the arc.
The Cards hit a late 3-pointer in the first quarter, but NC State still entered the first break up 21-17, a vast difference from the first meeting between the two teams. In that ugly outing for the Pack, Louisville had a commanding 36-13 lead after the opening 10 minutes with 22 points from Durr, who had just one point in the opening frame Saturday.
“We felt like it was important that we got off to a good start,” Moore said. “And maybe more than anything, flip that, it may have been important that we didn’t let them get off to a great start and get that confidence going again.”
The hot shooting carried into the second quarter for the Pack, as NC State made five of its first seven in the second frame, including 3-pointers from Crutchfield and Konig, and a couple of powerful inside scores for Cunane.
After not holding a lead since the game was 2-0, Louisville stormed back into things quickly towards the end of the half. The Cardinals knocked down six straight 3-point attempts to fuel a 19-0 run and grab a 44-34 lead.
The Wolfpack didn’t score in the final 4:55 of the opening half, as Louisville took the 44-34 lead into the locker room. During that stretch, the Wolfpack turned the ball over eight times and the Cardinals took advantage, finishing the first half with 23 points off of turnovers.
After missing its first two field-goal attempts of the second half, the Wolfpack found its stroke again, knocking down six shots in a row, sparked by another 3-pointer from Crutchfield, to slowly chip away at the Cardinals’ lead.
NC State regained its lead with just over two minutes remaining in the third, as an 8-0 run gave the Pack a 53-52 advantage. Senior forward DD Rogers provided the offensive spark for the Pack, scoring six of the eight points on the short run.
“They did a great job to start the game, they built a 10-point lead,” Moore said. “We’re down 10 at halftime, all we have to do is do what we did to start the game. Flip it back, get the 10 points back. They did that. Unfortunately, they probably ran out of gas fighting so hard to get back to that point.”
The Cardinals opened the fourth quarter up with seven straight points, pulling ahead 66-57, and they continued to pull away. Louisville hit 5 of its first 7 shots in the fourth, while the Pack struggled to find the basket, making just 2 of its first 7.
A three-minute scoring drought for the Wolfpack midway through the final quarter let the Cardinals grab control of the game, jumping ahead 72-61 heading into the final media timeout.
The Wolfpack wouldn’t die without a fight, scoring five straight to cut an 11-point deficit to six, but it wasn’t enough as the Cardinals hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
The Pack will now turn its attention to the NCAA Tournament, where it will likely host first round games back home in Reynolds Coliseum. The selection show will be Monday, March 18, with games starting Friday, March 22.
“Being able to host is really special because you get to have your fans there,” Konig said. “That type of energy that gets for us leading into, if we win the first two games, if we have that behind us and being able to come off that great energy will be super important.”
Senior forward DD Rogers goes up for a contested shot. Rogers had 13 points and seven rebounds while only playing 26 minutes. The Wolfpack traded runs with Louisville, but were unable to hold, falling 78-68 in Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday, March 9.
