The No. 9 NC State women’s basketball team tied its best start to a season in program history with a 63-51 victory over the rival Duke Blue Devils in Reynolds Coliseum Thursday.
The Wolfpack (14-0, 1-0 ACC) opened ACC play against a solid Blue Devils (8-5, 0-1 ACC) squad that didn’t go away easily, and the game came down to the wire. The Wolfpack outrebounded the Blue Devils 47-31, a fact head coach Wes Moore considered crucial to the win.
“We won because we rebounded,” Moore said. “We really stress that, feel like it’s the most important part of the game. On a night where you don’t shoot it as well, to limit them to one shot a possession and you can get some second and third looks, it makes a big difference.”
One player who was very influential on the boards for the Wolfpack was junior forward Erika Cassell, who grabbed eight rebounds on the night, which was the second highest on the team behind senior forward DD Rogers, who had nine.
“It’s a rivalry,” Cassell said. “It pumps the team up… I knew coming into the game, their post players, they rebound hard so I knew I had to outrebound them. That was really the mindset the whole game, ‘just go to the boards, crash the boards’… at the end of the day that’s how we win.”
The opening stanza was filled with sloppy play as both teams combined for 14 turnovers. The Wolfpack raced out to an 8-0 lead thanks to two 3-pointers from junior point guard Aislinn Konig, who ended the quarter with a team-high 9 points.
NC State went four minutes without a score once it took a 10-2 advantage and despite Haley Gorecki’s 1-for-5 shooting for the quarter, the Blue Devils fought back and took the lead off three 3-pointers from Mikayla Boykin.
In the second quarter, redshirt junior guard Grace Hunter took over for the Wolfpack. Hunter took it to the basket on three straight possessions and scored each time, including an and-one. Both teams cleaned up their sloppy play but baskets were hard to come by.
The Wolfpack made 41.1 percent of its shots in the first half and the Blue Devils weren’t much better at 41.7 percent. The Tobacco Road rivals went back and forth as NC State’s shots wouldn’t fall and Duke’s transition offense led to easy opportunities. At the half, things were deadlocked at 29-29.
Out of the halftime break, the Blue Devils were an ice cold 1 for 8 from the field through the first five minutes of the third quarter. In that time, the Wolfpack built up a 39-31 lead including an 8-0 run in which four different Pack players contributed scores.
With her team on the ropes, Gorecki came alive with 10 points to bring the Blue Devils back within striking distance. With the last shot of quarter, Boykin drained a jumper to bring Duke within two points of NC State.
“Gorecki, she’s an awesome player,” Moore said. “She did a nice job of attacking and getting to the free throw line, she’s just hard to handle. I thought [graduate guard] Kiara [Leslie] did a pretty good job at least trying to run her off the three-point line and make her attack instead of settling for threes.”
Gorecki’s hot streak continued as she opened up the final quarter with a 3-pointer that gave Duke its first lead since 1:31 remained in the first half. On the ensuing possession, Hunter gave the lead back to the Wolfpack off a beautiful feed from Cassell. Cassell followed that assist up with her fourth 3-pointer of the year to expand NC State’s lead to 48-44. Duke was forced to call timeout with three minutes left in the game as NC State held a 50-46 lead.
With the Pack’s undefeated season on the line, freshman center Elissa Cunane went on a personal 7-0 run to extend the Pack’s lead to double digits and effectively end the game.
Just before the closing minute of the game, Hunter peeled off to break a full-court press. After receiving an outlet pass from Konig she went down with an apparent right leg injury.
“I don’t know yet, but it doesn’t look good,” Moore said. “Like I said [the win] is very bittersweet.”
Next up, the team will travel to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts on Sunday to take on Boston College in its second ACC game.
Redshirt junior guard Grace Hunter attacks the basket for a layup. Hunter had 14 points and six rebounds in the game. The Pack defeated Duke 63-51 on Thursday, Jan. 3 in Reynolds Coliseum to tie the best start of the season in school history at 14-0.
