Wolfpack Women sink Bucs in Opener
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Photo courtesy of IBD Photography
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Final: NC State 80 East Tennessee State 55
November 5,2024
Raleigh, NC-Fresh off a trip to the 2023 Final Four, the NC State women’s basketball team (1-0,0-0) returned to the court on Tuesday playing host to the visiting East Tennessee State Buccaneers (0-1, 0-0) in an exciting home opening win.
On a night where the Wolfpack unveiled their Final Four banner, the Wolfpack women opened up the 2024-2025 season with an impressive opening victory. NC State, winners of both previous matchups with ETSU, were able to extend the winning streak to 3 on Tuesday Night at Reynolds Coliseum with an 80-55 win.
1st Quarter NC State 10 East Tennesse State 8
After getting off to a slow start from both teams, the Wolfpack used a 6-0 run over the first 5:06 to take an early lead. The Wolfpack were able to keep the Buccaneers scoreless to the media timeout as the Buccaneers started 0-8 from the floor and 0-5 from behind the 3-point line.
After the timeout, East Tennessee would go on an 8-2 run to tie the game at 8. The Buccaneers were paced by Kendall Foley who had 5 of the 8 points on the run. The Wolfpack would be led by Mallory Collier with 4 first quarter points. Saniya Rivers followed up with 3 points of her own. Aziaha James led NC State with 4 rebounds.
Defensively, the Wolfpack were stingy on that end of the floor. The Pack forced the Buccaneers into 6 turnovers and held them to just 20% shooting. Rebounding was even at 10-10. Each team found scoring tough as both defenses proved to be very stingy in the early going.
2nd Quarter- NC State 29 East Tennessee State 26
The Buccaneers came out in the second quarter hot from the 3-point line as they took an 18-14 lead at the media timeout with 4:51 left in the quarter. East Tennessee was 2-6 from 3, and 4-12 overall to start the quarter. The early story was the litany of turnovers from the Wolfpack. East Tennessee used 8 points off of 5 Wolfpack turnovers to push past the Wolfpack early.
East Tennessee would take the lead 22-18, however that lead would not last long as the Wolfpack regained the lead at 29-24 with an 11-4 run to end the half. The Wolfpack finished the quarter shooting 7-16 from the floor and 11-27 overall.
The Wolfpack used a strong quarter on the glass to take a 23-15 edge on the boards heading into the half. NC State continued to play strong in the paint to get 12 of their 29 points inside the lane. The Buccaneers were able to keep things close as they were able to force 12 Wolfpack turnovers that led to 10 points. Both teams were able to limit the opponents second chance points. East Tennesse managed just 3 total second chance points, and the Wolfpack had 4.
3rd Quarter- NC State 57 East Tennessee State 47
The Wolfpack came out of the locker room with more energy and quickly extended the lead to 36-26 courtesy of a Saniya Rivers 5-0 run. The lead ballooned to 12 for the Wolfpack at the media timeout as Madison Hayes was able to earn the hoop and the harm before the timeout. The 12-point lead gave NC State its largest of the night until that point.
The Wolfpack maintained a balanced scoring approach as 3 different players had 9 points through the media timeout and a 4th with 8. Madison Hayes, Zoe Brooks, and Saniya Rivers all led the way. Brooks would finish the quarter leading the team with 14 points. James had 13 and Hayes had 11.
The Wolfpack controlled the paint once again in the third quarter finishing the quarter with a 26-16 edge on points in the paint. NC State also owned the glass with a 33-23 rebound advantage that helped lead the Wolfpack to the double-digit lead.
4th Quarter NC State 80 East Tennessee State 55
NC State opened the 4th quarter by extending their lead to 14 forcing the Buccaneers into an early timeout with the score 61-47. NC State began using more full court pressure in the 4th quarter and the token pressure forced the Buccaneers to play at a pace that they were not comfortable with. The Wolfpack would use the added pressure to force the Buccaneers into several turnovers helping the Wolfpack to extend their lead in the second half.
The lead for NC State would be 69-52 with 4:35 left in the game forcing ETSU into another timeout as the game began to slip away from their grasp. Zoe Brooks and Aziaha James led the Wolfpack in scoring as Brooks tallied 21 points and James finished the game with 17 points.
The Wolfpack proved to be just too strong on the inside and the outside for the Buccaneers. The combination of strong defense and rebounding led to the 80-55 win. The game for NC State was their final tune-up before a ranked matchup with the Gamecocks of South Carolina on Sunday.
Next up for NC State is a November 10th matchup with South Carolina at 3PM at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
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