NC State women's basketball adjusts to the court without River Baldwin
River Baldwin traveled with the team to Blacksburg. She did not play in the game after suffering an ankle injury against Florida State three days ago, and No. 3 NC State had to adjust quickly.
The 6-5, graduate student post player made her way around the sidelines of Sunday’s ACC clash between the Wolfpack and No. 13 Virginia Tech with a crutch and a boot on her foot.
She watched graduate forward Mimi Collins slide into the starting center role, Zoe Brooks dish out 5 assists while filling the open spot in the starting lineup and senior guard Madison Hayes score a career-high 21 points while also guarding opposing power forwards.
Baldwin also saw Virginia Tech Elizabeth Kitley catch and convert the game winning shot with less than a second remaining in the Wolfpack’s 63-62 loss— the program’s first loss of the season after a 14-game winning streak. The fifth-year center started each of the prior contests.
NC State rallied to hold off Florida State’s late push in overtime earlier in the week after Baldwin’s injury but could pull off a win over the Hokies Sunday afternoon. Head coach Wes Moore shared after the game that the critical member of the Pack’s starting lineup is dealing with an ankle ailment and will miss extended time.
“We’ll see, two or three weeks probably,” Moore said.
If Baldwin is away from the court for three weeks from Jan. 7, that puts her on track to return around NC State’s Jan. 28 road trip to Boston College. She would miss matchups against UVA, Miami, Duke and Clemson before coming back for the bulk of the program’s conference schedule.
With the graduate student out of the starting lineup for the first time this season, Collins assumed the center responsibilities, guarding Kitley for most of the game and scoring 9 points to go along with 5 rebounds in 30 minutes. Graduate center Lizzy Williamson and Mallory Collier combined to play the other 10 minutes at center.
Williamson, standing 6-5, matched the Virginia Tech center’s height on the interior and grabbed 2 boards, dished out an assist and missed her lone shot in 8 minutes. Collier secured 1 rebound in 2 minutes.
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Hayes starred in her adjusted role against the Hokies. She has rebounded well all year, averaging 6.1 boards per game, and led the team with 9 in this ACC contest. The senior leader of the program provided a physical presence on the glass and hit 7 of 9 shots, including 4 of 5 threes.
“We probably should have gotten her more shots,” Moore said. “She was so efficient.”
“I love Madison, love the way she plays. She just puts her head down and goes to work, and then she can make shots also. She had a phenomenal game, kept us in the game.”
Brooks started the game at guard— a familiar role for the freshman after junior point guard Saniya Rivers missed time due to injury. The first-year Pack phenom scored 8 points to go along with her assist total, pushing the tempo throughout the game to keep Virginia Tech off-balance. She also finished with 4 rebounds and 4 turnovers.
NC State’s first loss of the season came to the Hokies— a 2023 final four squad that Moore has a lot of for. Matching up against Kitley, a two-time ACC player of the year, this was trial by fire for the Wolfpack’s new starting lineup, and Moore does not plan on forgetting about this defeat for “a little while.”
“The trip home tomorrow won’t be a lot of fun, but then you’ve got to pick it back up and go.” Moore said.
