North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
3-2
Old Dominion
2-1
Pack Holds On For 62-60 Win over ODU
11/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2010
Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF)
RALEIGH, N.C. - Bonae Holston notched her third double-double of the season with 20 points, all of which came in the second half, and 12 rebounds to help propel NC State to a nail-biting 62-60 win over Old Dominion Tuesday at Reynolds Coliseum.
Freshman Kody Burke joined Holston in double-figures, earning 14 points off of 7-of-10 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. Myisha Goodwin-Coleman chipped in a season-high 10 rebounds for NC State (3-2).
"We were proud of the energy our team brought tonight, but obviously, we didn't shoot the ball as well as we'd like," explained NC State head coach Kellie Harper. "We feel like we won this game tonight with our defense and our rebounding."
The Pack offset its 33.9 percent shooting by hauling in a 52-37 advantage in rebounding, including 21 offensive boards that led to 13 points.
NC State opened the game with an 8-0 run, highlighted by a Brittany Strachan three-pointer that forced an Old Dominion timeout at 16:10. The Lady Monarchs clawed back, though, embarking on a seven-point run of their own, knotting the score at 10-all with 15:42 left to go in the first half.
Old Dominion took the lead, utilizing hot shooting to push its advantage to 23-16. Lakeesa Daniel, however, broke the nearly four-minute drought for the Pack, knocking down a jumper just beyond the elbow
ODU took advantage of poor Wolfpack shooting over the final minutes of the first half to carry a 30-22 lead into halftime.
Burke and Daniel paced the Pack offensively in the first half, each scoring six points. In addition, Holston pulled down six rebounds, two of which were on the offensive glass.
The squad demonstrated improvement on the defensive side of the ball in comparison to the two previous games, forcing the Lady Monarchs to commit 14 turnovers and allowing 30 points, significantly less than the 46 and 52 given up to Alabama and Richmond, respectively.
"In the past two games, our whole defensive system was wrong," explains Harper. "We did not defend transition at all. We didn't sprint back. We didn't buy into our scheme."
The Wolfpack women came out of the locker room making shots. After facing a 41-32 deficit, the Pack embarked on an 14-4 run, capped off by a Holston field goal to knot the score at 45-all with 12:24 remaining in the game.
The Newport News, Va., native was nearly unstoppable up to that point of the game, accounting for 12 of the Pack's 25 second-half points to tie the game for the first time since it was 16-all with 8:07 left in the first half.
The Monarchs had led by as many as 10 points on five separate occasions that spanned both halves.
With nine minutes left in the game, sophomore Marissa Kastanek stepped behind the three-point arc and nailed a deep ball, giving the Pack its largest lead of the game at the time, 52-47.
Burke and Holston each added another bucket to make the advantage, 56-47, with 7:56 to play.
The Lady Monarchs fought back, though, pulling within one point at 56-55, but the Pack rattled off four-straight points to extend its lead to 60-55 with 3:39 left in the game.
In the end, the Wolfpack prevailed, earning a 62-60 victory thanks to 43 points from the squad's front court players.
"The guards consistently talked to the forwards about getting them the ball," says Harper. "Tonight, our guards were not shooting well, so we knew we had to get the ball inside, which we did."
ODU had one last chance to send the game into overtime or win it outright, but Shakeva Richard's jumper was off the mark and the Pack celebrated its win.
The Wolfpack is off to the Nugget Classic in Reno, Nev. NC State will take on host Nevada on Friday at 4 p.m. ET.
