#15/18 Wolfpack Grinds Out Win at Boston College

Thursday, February 16

Chestnut Hill, MA

7 PM

NC State

10-320-6; ACC

Boston College

2-129-18; ACC

#15/18 North Carolina State

Boston College

#15/18 Wolfpack Grinds Out Win at Boston College

2/16/2017 8:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score @PackWomensBball

NC State hits 20-win mark for second straight season

February 16, 2017

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The No. 15/18 NC State women's basketball team (20-6, 10-3 ACC) reached the 20-win mark for the second consecutive season Thursday evening, grinding out a challenging 70-58 road win at Boston College inside Conte Forum.

Dominique Wilson led all scorers with 23 points. She was joined in double figures by Jennifer Mathurin (14 points) and Miah Spencer (12). Mariella Fasoula led the Eagles with 20 points on 10-13 shooting. She was joined in double figures by 18 points from teammate Taylor Ortlepp.

Postgame Notes
-The Wolfpack forced 21 turnovers, scoring 24 points as a result.
-NC State led for just 13:53, the entirety of which came in the second half.
-The win was just NC State's fourth at Boston College (4-6). NC State leads the overall series 14-8.
-Boston College shot 27-51 (.529) from the field compared to NC State's 22-57 (.386).
-With five assists, Miah Spencer moved into fourth in program history with 469.

NC State endured a rocky first quarter, shooting a meager 2-12 (.167) from the field and allowing the Eagles to connect on 9-16 (.563) attempts to take an early 19-8 lead. The Wolfpack immediately bounced back in the second quarter, outscoring Boston College 23-14 to pull within two points (33-31) at the halftime break. The Eagles still shot an impressive 7-11 (.636) in the second quarter, and were led in the opening 20 minutes by 14 points on 7-10 shooting from Fasoula. Wilson led all scorers in the first half, scoring 16 points on 4-12 shooting and a 7-8 success rate from the free throw line.

The Wolfpack took its first lead of the game 1:05 into the third quarter when Jennifer Mathurin scored in the paint to make it 35-33. Boston College quickly responded, scoring 10 of the next 13 points to reclaim a 43-38 lead with 6:40 remaining in the third quarter.

With the Wolfpack trailing 45-40 midway through the third quarter, Ashley Williams connected on two straight three-pointers to put the Wolfpack ahead 46-45 with 4:49 remaining in the period. The teams would trade the lead four more times over the course of the next 2:04 before Wilson kicked off a Wolfpack 7-0 run with a three-pointer that made it 51-49 in favor of the Red & White. NC State used this run to take a 55-49 lead into the final quarter of action and would not allow the Eagles any closer throughout the final 10 minutes of the contest.

Quotes from the Wolfpack
NC State head coach Wes Moore: "They (BC) just had a big win at Carolina a week ago, and they are a dangerous team. We knew that Fasoula would be a handful. She got her 20 points. The freshman point guard (Ortlepp) had a big game for them as well. They had some kids hitting on cylinders tonight.

"Dominique Wilson did an unbelievable job on Kelly Hughes. She had seven threes at Carolina and Dom shadowed her all night. Just gutting it out was important tonight. We didn't shoot the ball all that well, except at the free throw line, where Miah Spencer was 8-8 and Dominique was 9-10. Twenty for 23 for the team. And we defended them without fouling. That was important too."

On Jennifer Mathurin's crowd of 50+ friends and family in the stands: "That's impressive. People care about her so much to go to all that trouble. They brought 40-some school kids down here on a five-hour trip. Heck, I couldn't get people to travel five minutes for me if I was playing. Jenn didn't shoot all that well tonight, but she did a great job off the bounce. It was fun. It was fun having them here to give us some energy. It almost felt like a little bit of a home court out here."

NC State now returns home to host Wake Forest on Sunday, Feb. 19 in the 12th annual Play4Kay game. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. from Kay Yow Court inside Reynolds Coliseum. Fewer than 200 tickets remain for the game, and with a sellout anticipated, fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance at GoPack.com/WBBTickets.

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