North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
George Washington
Wolfpack Falls to George Washington
12/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2004
Washington D.C. - NC State women's basketball ended its seven-game winning streak with a 65-56 loss at George Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 21. The Wolfpack fell to 8-2 on the season, while the Colonials improved to 6-3. NC State's Billie McDowell led the Pack with 16 points and Ashley Key added 14. For George Washington, Anna Montanna had 20 points, including 14 in the second half.
"This was a very disappointing loss for us," said NC State head coach Kay Yow. "It is the first game in which we got into this kind of foul trouble with both of our starting inside players (Tiffany Stansbury and Marquetta Dickens) out for most of the second half. We were not fundamentally sound and with all of these things, we were still in the game with two minutes to go."
NC State had the lead at halftime, 26-25, but gave up 40 points in the second half to give up the most points it has all season with 65. George Washington took advantage of 25 Wolfpack turnovers and tallied 20 points from the miscues to hand NC State just its second loss of the season. Senior Kendra Bell led NC State with eight points in the first half as she aided a 7-0 run to start the first half. Frustrating turnovers, which included several traveling calls, hampered NC State. The Pack had 14 miscues of its season-high 25 in the first half, which was already more than its season average of 13.3 per game. NC State did shoot a modest 40 percent for the first 20 minutes, after hitting 12 of its 30 shots. Sophomore Ashley Key helped the cause as she hit both of her three-point attempts for six points. Freshman Khadijah Whittington hit back-to-back buckets to collect four points. NC State forced 13 GW turnovers and held its leading scorer, Anna Montanana to 3-of-10 shooting.
The second half started off with an offensive show by NC State juniorBillie McDowell as she hit all three of her first three shot attempts, including back-to-back threes from the right baseline. She also made a free throw to account for each of NC State's first nine points. George Washington continued to chip away at the Wolfpack lead and eventually did at 8:10 after two made free throws from Jessica Simmonds to improve the score to 42-41. George Washington never gave up its lead despite a late run by the Wolfpack. NC State tried to regain momentum in the last two minutes and did cut a 10-point GW lead to four, 60-56, after Key banked in a three-pointer with 37 seconds to go. But the Colonials hit 10 free throws to pull away down the stretch.
Junior Tiffany Stansbury played just 11 minutes total and tallied two points and one rebound. NC State's leading scorer and rebounder fouled out with just under six minutes to go. Sophomore Marquetta Dickens finished with two points, four rebounds and four assists in 20 minutes of action before she also fouled out with eight and half minutes remaining.
"It's tough to come off a loss and not have the option to practice heading into the holiday break," said Yow. "We have to wait for five days until we are able to practice on the 27th. We have to stay positive, get away, regroup and come back hungry with a renewed determination."
The loss is just the second in nine games for the Wolfpack as it drops to 7-2 all-time versus GW overall and 2-2 in Washington, D.C. It also ends a six-game winning streak against the Colonials.
NC State travels to St. Peter's College in Jersey City, N.J. for two games as part of the St. Peter's Classic, Dec. 29th and 30th. The Wolfpack will face Mount Saint Mary's at 5:30 p.m. on the 29th and then St. Peter's at 7:30 p.m. on the 30th. Following those two non-conference games, NC State will host Wake Forest in the Atlantic Coast Conference season opener on Jan. 3.
