North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
8-6
Elizabeth City State
7-3
Pack Rolls in Final Out-of-Conference Tilt
1/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. --- NC State cruised past Elizabeth City State 80-50 behind Bonae Holston’s fifth double-double of the year, featuring 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting and 10 rebounds.
“I think we needed this game,” said NC State head coach Kellie Harper. “We’ve had a very long layoff. Our coaches and administrators had to work extremely hard for the past week just to get this game.”
The Wolfpack (8-6) enjoyed four double-digit scorers on the afternoon. Breezy Williams matched her career-high with 13, Marissa Kastanek also had 13 on 5-of-11 shooting and 3-of-7 shooting from three-point range, and Kody Burke added 12 going 6-of-10 from the field.
“I don’t think we played as well as we did prior to Christmas,” said Harper. “I thought our post play was good, when we got the ball inside. I thought our man-to-man defense was okay. We had some breakdowns. My disappointments were the rebounding in the first half, the turnovers, and I didn’t like our zone defense today.”
The win marks the fourth-straight runaway victory for the Pack. Dating back to Dec. 16, NC State has beaten four opponents by an average of more than 30 points.
A 9-2 run to open the second half lifted the Wolfpack to its first 20-point lead of the game. Elizabeth City never cut that lead to less than 19 for the remainder of the game.
In the first half, NC State relied on hot shooting to pull away from the Vikings (7-3). Freshman Breezy Williams went 2-of-2 from long range, contributing to the team’s 7-of-8 start from the field, to help the Pack open the game on an 18-4 run.
After a timeout to regroup, Elizabeth City responded with a 9-0 run of their own, holding NC State scoreless over a five-minute stretch to pull within five at 18-13.
From there, the Pack pulled away for a 40-26 halftime lead built on 13 forced Viking turnovers and 48.6% (17-of-35) shooting from the field.
NC State returns to action Thursday, January 6 as the play host to conference-rival Clemson. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. at Reynolds Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on Go Pack All-Access.
