Thursday, January 26
Raleigh
7 PM
NC State
55
vs
42
Pittsburgh
#18/18 Wolfpack Earns Wire-to-Wire Win over Pittsburgh
1/26/2017 9:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NC State picks up 12th home win of the season
January 26, 2017
RALEIGH – The No. 18/18 NC State women's basketball team (16-5, 6-2 ACC) finished the first half of Atlantic Coast Conference play with a 55-42 win over Pittsburgh Thursday evening on Kay Yow Court inside Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack shot a season-low 16-50 (.320) from the field in the win, but its defense proved stout, holding an opponent at or below 50 points for the fifth time this season. Pittsburgh also shot an identical 16-50 (.320) from the field Thursday evening.
NC State was led offensively by 13 points from both Jennifer Mathurin (4-6 shooting) and Dominique Wilson. They were joined in double figures by Chelsea Nelson, who scored 10 points in addition to collecting seven rebounds.
Fast Facts
-NC State led for 37:46 and never trailed throughout the contest.
-The Wolfpack's starting five went 14-15 from the free-throw line.
-NC State earned a 42-36 rebounding edge.
-The Wolfpack recorded 15 assists on 16 made field goals.
NC State ran out to a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but was held scoreless for the first 6:32 of the second quarter as Pittsburgh clawed back to within two points (19-17) before Wilson hit a three-pointer to make it 22-17 with 3:28 remaining in the half.
Holding a 28-21 lead at the halftime break, the Wolfpack would allow the Panthers no closer than within seven points throughout the entirety of the second half. Nelson was key for the Wolfpack during the closing 20 minutes of the game, as she scored all 10 of her points and grabbed all seven of her rebounds after halftime.
Quotes from the Wolfpack
NC State head coach Wes Moore's opening statement: "We struggled a little bit, but the silver lining is that we held them to 21 points a half so our defensive effort was good. We won the rebounding battle. Last year they out-rebounded us, so that was something we definitely wanted to clean up a little bit. We have to get back to playing better basketball and have to clean things up. I need to help them some and they need to knock down more shots and execute better. We protected the home court, which is really important, and as we go on the road we'll have to play a lot better."
On the team's strong defensive effort during the last three games: "Our kids have done a nice job. We've been pretty focused on taking certain things away. We wanted to make it a little tougher to get the ball in the high post area because they're so good at the high-low action when they get it there. We didn't do as good of a job there as I'd like, but overall the effort was great defensively and we played well as a team. We helped each other well, and like I said, they had 10 offensive boards and a number of those were dead ball team rebounds, so all in all we did a nice job there too. We're doing some good things and I can't question the effort. I just think we're too good of a shooting team to be struggling, so we have to fix that."
NC State travels to visit nearby rival UNC-Chapel Hill on Sunday, Jan. 29. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. with live coverage provided by ACC Network Extra (subject to local blackouts) and the ACC's regional sports network television package.
#GoPack | @PackWomensBball
RALEIGH – The No. 18/18 NC State women's basketball team (16-5, 6-2 ACC) finished the first half of Atlantic Coast Conference play with a 55-42 win over Pittsburgh Thursday evening on Kay Yow Court inside Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack shot a season-low 16-50 (.320) from the field in the win, but its defense proved stout, holding an opponent at or below 50 points for the fifth time this season. Pittsburgh also shot an identical 16-50 (.320) from the field Thursday evening.
NC State was led offensively by 13 points from both Jennifer Mathurin (4-6 shooting) and Dominique Wilson. They were joined in double figures by Chelsea Nelson, who scored 10 points in addition to collecting seven rebounds.
Fast Facts
-NC State led for 37:46 and never trailed throughout the contest.
-The Wolfpack's starting five went 14-15 from the free-throw line.
-NC State earned a 42-36 rebounding edge.
-The Wolfpack recorded 15 assists on 16 made field goals.
NC State ran out to a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but was held scoreless for the first 6:32 of the second quarter as Pittsburgh clawed back to within two points (19-17) before Wilson hit a three-pointer to make it 22-17 with 3:28 remaining in the half.
Holding a 28-21 lead at the halftime break, the Wolfpack would allow the Panthers no closer than within seven points throughout the entirety of the second half. Nelson was key for the Wolfpack during the closing 20 minutes of the game, as she scored all 10 of her points and grabbed all seven of her rebounds after halftime.
Quotes from the Wolfpack
NC State head coach Wes Moore's opening statement: "We struggled a little bit, but the silver lining is that we held them to 21 points a half so our defensive effort was good. We won the rebounding battle. Last year they out-rebounded us, so that was something we definitely wanted to clean up a little bit. We have to get back to playing better basketball and have to clean things up. I need to help them some and they need to knock down more shots and execute better. We protected the home court, which is really important, and as we go on the road we'll have to play a lot better."
On the team's strong defensive effort during the last three games: "Our kids have done a nice job. We've been pretty focused on taking certain things away. We wanted to make it a little tougher to get the ball in the high post area because they're so good at the high-low action when they get it there. We didn't do as good of a job there as I'd like, but overall the effort was great defensively and we played well as a team. We helped each other well, and like I said, they had 10 offensive boards and a number of those were dead ball team rebounds, so all in all we did a nice job there too. We're doing some good things and I can't question the effort. I just think we're too good of a shooting team to be struggling, so we have to fix that."
NC State travels to visit nearby rival UNC-Chapel Hill on Sunday, Jan. 29. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. with live coverage provided by ACC Network Extra (subject to local blackouts) and the ACC's regional sports network television package.
#GoPack | @PackWomensBball
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Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
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