North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Wake Forest
Wolfpack Women Down Wake Forest 69-57
2/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2002
Jan. 31, 2002
Raleigh, NC -- NC State placed three players in double figures, and jumped out early to march on to a 69-57 victory over Wake Forest Thursday night at Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack (11-9, 5-4 ACC) played with a much higher intensity early, as it racked up 13 quick points before the Demon Deacons could finally get on the board. Despite a rally by Wake (9-11, 3-7) midway in the second half that cut its lead to six, NC State picked the tempo back up due to the three-point shooting of Amelia Labador. Connecting on two back-to-back shots from downtown, Labador went on to score a career-high 16 points for the game.
"She's a good shooter," said head coach Kay Yow. "The best thing about it, was that she didn't hesitate to shoot and that is what a great shooter knows to do. If you hesitate, then you get out of your rhythm. She shot in such a great rhythm tonight. We had such a great amount of confidence in her shooting the ball like she did tonight."
Falling short of her fifth straight double-double by one rebound, Kaayla Chones continued her domination in the paint by racking up 15 points, accompanied by nine boards. Also contributing to the Pack's performance in the low post was Carisse Moody, who in only her second game back from injury, scored 13 points.
As for the Deacons, Tonia Brown and Eafton Hill both finished in double figures. The two help lead Wake's second half run, with Brown scoring a game-high 17 points and Hill tallying up another 12.
But the damage had already been done, as the Deacons couldn't quite get over the hump, shooting 33.9 percent for the game. The Wolfpack, shot an amazing 59.3% in the first half to go on to 49.1% on the game overall. The real tale of the game though, was that of its three-point shooting, with State hitting 55.6% as opposed to Wake's 26.3%.
"It definitely would've been a downer for us had we lost this game," said Yow. "It's a big win for us. Every game is a big game though. After Duke, the rest of the conference is still contending for that second position."
The Wolfpack travel to Virginia on Sunday for a noon matchup to be televised by the Fox regional sports network.
