NC State
12-8, 3-4
No. 23 Syracuse
15-5, 5-2
Pack Falls at No. 23 Syracuse Sunday Afternoon
1/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The NC State women’s basketball team (12-8, 3-4 ACC) dropped a tough road contest on Sunday afternoon, falling to the No. 23 Syracuse Orange by a final score of 66-49.
NC State led by a 32-26 margin early in the second half, but was undone by a 23-0 Syracuse run over the course of 9:07 in the opening stages of the second stanza.
Syracuse shot 16 first half free throws to NC State’s 0. The Orange would end the game 18-26 (.692) from the line while the Pack shot 5-10 (.500) from the charity stripe.
“First of all, we’ve got to figure out what we can do offensively to avoid those stretches,” NC State head coach Wes Moore said. “It’s happened to us in a few games, so we need to figure it out and find an identity offensively.
“We’ve also got to have some fun. That’s hard to say after a game like this. We were still right there in the game and we had a chance to maybe make a run, but just didn’t have enough energy and enthusiasm tonight.”
NC State was led offensively by 12 points from both Jennifer Mathurin and Dominique Wilson. A redshirt sophomore transfer from Arkansas, Wilson has now scored 502 career points, 284 of which have come at NC State. Mathurin also added a team-high nine rebounds. The Pack shot 18-65 (.277) from the field and 8-27 (.296) from distance. NC State won the rebounding battle, collecting 45 total boards (17 offensive) compared to Syracuse’s 43.
Syracuse was carried by strong performances from Alexis Peterson (27 points and five rebounds), Briana Day (11 points and 16 rebounds), and Brianna Butler (15 points and seven rebounds). The Orange shot 20-54 (.370) from the field and 8-31 (.258) from distance.
Despite shooting zero free throws in the first half compared to 16 by Syracuse, the Pack would take a 29-26 lead into the halftime break. The opening 20 minutes was a back-and-forth affair, featuring four ties and six lead changes. Syracuse held its largest lead of the half (12-6) just 4:39 into the contest, while the Wolfpack’s largest advantage was a 6-0 lead it achieved in the first 74 seconds on three pointers from Spencer and Brown-Hoskin.
@PackWomensBball Let's go girls! Get this done!
— Sara Boric (@saraboric) January 25, 2015
NC State held a 26-23 rebounding edge in the first half and recorded assists on eight of 12 made field goals. Syracuse recorded seven blocked shots, six of which came from Briana Day.
With the Pack holding a 32-26 lead 40 seconds into the second half, the Orange rattled off a 23-0 run to take a 49-32 advantage with 11:06 to play. NC State would pull within 13 points on four separate occasions, but would come no closer throughout the rest of the contest.
NC State will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 29 at Virginia. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from Charlottesville, Va.
#GoPack
