North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Old Dominion
Gardner, Wolfpack Plow Through Old Dominion, 74-58
11/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov 26, 2001
RALEIGH, N.C. - Old Dominion was effective in shutting down North Carolina State's leading scorer. That wasn't nearly enough to beat the No. 8 Wolfpack.
Carisse Moody made just 1 of 7 shots from the floor and finished with eight points, but North Carolina State earned an easy 74-58 victory Monday night over No. 17 Old Dominion.
Moody averaged 15.5 points in N.C. State's first four wins, but was kept in check Monday. That opened the door for Ivy Gardner to shine from the outside.
Gardner, in her first start this season after left knee surgery on Nov. 11, hit 7 of 10 shots in 25 minutes and finished with team highs of 18 points and eight rebounds.
"Honestly, we weren't expecting Miss Gardner to play," Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry said. "She wasn't in the scouting report. She had a tremendous game. She really stepped out on her return. We weren't prepared for that."
Gardner played in just one of N.C. State's first four games, scoring two points in a 62-54 win Nov. 20 against George Washington.
Talisha Scates scored 10 first-half points in a reserve role to lead N.C. State to a 34-30 halftime lead.
"Talisha is really good enough to be a starter in my mind," N.C. State's Kay Yow said. "We've got such a strong bench, it's got to give anyone who's starting for us a lot of confidence."
N.C. State opened the second half with a 13-1 run, taking a 47-31 lead.
Gardner hit consecutive 3-pointers that pushed the margin to 55-35, and N.C. State didn't let Old Dominion get closer than 61-47 after that.
Gardner's three 3-pointers were a career best. She made only two of 17 last season.
"We got fired up in the second half," Gardner said. "It's our home court, and we've got a lot of pride about playing here. We wanted to prove we're a top 10 team."
Scates finished with 12 points for N.C. State (5-0), and Kaayla Chones added all 10 of her points in the second half.
Gardner's 7-for-10 shooting from the floor and Scates' 4-for-4 paced N.C. State in its best shooting night of the season. The Wolfpack made 28 of 53 shots.
Okeisha Howard led Old Dominion (2-2) with 19 points and was the only Monarchs player in double figures.
Howard hit five of her first seven shots, including two 3-pointers, and scored 14 points in the first half.
N.C. State held Old Dominion without a field goal for the first 12:13 of the second half. The Monarchs made 22 of 62 shots for the game.
"When we don't finish at the rim, we just sort of lose steam," Larry said. "It got worse and worse and worse and we couldn't throw the ball into the ocean."
