North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
6-3
Richmond
8-2
NC State Falls 72-58 To Spiders
12/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. - The NC State women's basketball team lost 72-58 to Richmond on Thursday from Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack drops to 6-3 on the season with the loss, while the Spiders improve to 8-2. NC State shot only 31.8 percent (21-of-66) on the night, while Richmond knocked down over half of its shots, converting 50.9 percent of its attempts.
"I'm very disappointed in our lack of execution offensively," said head coach Kellie Harper. "Richmond did a nice job running their offense."
The Wolfpack was led by Bonae Holston, who scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her 21st career double-double. Holston's 21 points are a season high, and continues to be steady as ever. She is the only player in the Atlantic Coast Conference to have at least 10 points and eight rebounds in every game she has played this season.
Marissa Kastanek finished the game with a season-high 17 points, while Emili Tasler had a career-high eight rebounds.
"We had a lot of turnovers in the first half, and then just shot poorly the second half," said Harper.
13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes led to a 38-32 deficit at the break, and the Pack shot just 24.3 percent (9-of-37) in the second half.
Holston started the game strong, putting up six points and grabbing three rebounds as NC State jumped out to a 9-4 lead. The Spiders stormed back, going on a 10-2 run to take their first lead of the game, 14-11.
The Pack tied things up at 17-all, before reclaiming the lead, 19-17, midway through the half. The contest remained a one-possession game before Richmond took a 30-22 lead off of back-to-back three-pointers by Becca Wann and Rachael Bilney.
Richmond increased its lead to 10, 34-24, for its largest lead of the half, before NC State went on a 6-0 run to close the gap for a bit. However, the Spiders did not let up, taking a 38-32 lead into the locker room.
The Spiders charged out of the intermission, taking a 45-34 advantage on a layup from Liz Brown at the 16:17 mark.
"We took some bad shots in the second half," said Harper. "I thought we were rushing things and we weren't running our offense- we weren't running an offense at all. When you're not shooting well- that's when you really have to execute in order to get good shots and our kids just panicked."
The Wolfpack clawed to within seven, 53-46, on a bucket from Krystal Barrett midway through the final half, but Abby Oliver (17 points) drained a three-pointer at the other end and Richmond never let State back in the game.
NC State will return to action against No. 20 Vanderbilt on Sunday, Dec. 18, at Reynolds Coliseum. The game is set to begin at 2 p.m.
