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NC State drops close, intense contest to UNC

On3 imageby:Ethan McDowell•01/15/23•

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NC State women's basketball coach Wes Moore (Photo courtesy NC State athletics)

NC State played what might have been its best defensive performance of the conference schedule, but the offense could not keep up with North Carolina in the fourth quarter, leading to a 56-47 defeat at the hands of the program’s in-state rival. 

The Wolfpack played phenomenal defense throughout the game, especially in the third quarter when the team held the Tar Heels to 18 percent shooting, and the Pack took a one-point lead into the final quarter. North Carolina then started the final quarter hot, pulling ahead for good after a trio of NC State turnovers led to a complete momentum shift. 

The Wolfpack hit timely threes in the fourth, including 2 by Diamond Johnson, but UNC guard Destiny Adams hit two threes from the corner that helped put the game out of reach. North Carolina switched up its defense into a 3-2 zone in the final period. NC State shot 31.3 percent from the field in that quarter and 29 percent overall. 

“As a coach, I’ve got to do a better job trying to get us better looks in that situation,” head coach Wes Moore said. “All we can do is keep grinding and try to get in there, get shots up and hope to shoot the ball a little better.”

After finishing the Florida State game with 0 points, Jakia Brown-Turner bounced back Sunday and scored 10 first-half points to pace all scorers and finished the matchup with 14.

“We’ve got to learn how to finish,” Brown-Turner said. “It’s a little bit of growing pains right now, but we’re learning, and we’re improving. We’re improving on our defense.”

The opening 20 minutes was an intense defensive battle where neither team shot above 27 percent from the field. UNC shot 58.3 percent in the fourth quarter, but that was the outlier from a day where the Tar Heels finished at 29 percent. 

North Carolina also grabbed 11 offensive rebounds, including 5 by Alyssa Ustby who grabbed 18 total boards in the matchup. Camille Hobby, who finished second on the Wolfpack in both points, with 13, and rebounds, with 6, was not happy with the team’s work on the boards. 

“We can’t have that,” Hobby said. “We’ve got to stop that. That’s our job to keep them off the glass, and we fell short of that tonight.”

Madison Hayes did not score in the first three quarters but was one of the best players on the court. She helped hold Deja Kelly, UNC’s leading scorer, to 5 points on 2 of 13 shooting. Moore appreciated the Pack’s defensive showing. 

“A much better defensive effort,” Moore said. “That was good to see. We struggled offensively. The zone gave us some trouble in the fourth period, but then you look at it we only had 19 points at halftime, so we weren’t exactly killing it against man either. Need to try to get some confidence and get a little bit of rhythm offensively and shooting the ball. But again, proud of the defensive effort.”

Hobby elaborated on the importance of not getting held up on one loss. 

“Basketball is a hard sport,” Hobby said. “You have so many games. If you dwell on one, you can’t do that. It was a tough loss tonight. We’re going to look at the film and get better from it, but there’s no point in dwelling on it.”

NC State drops to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in the ACC after losing consecutive conference games. The Pack returns to Reynolds Coliseum Thursday, Jan. 19, for a matchup against Miami at 6 p.m..

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