Wolfpack Falls 69-56 at #17 Duke

Sunday, January 7

Durham, NC

3PM

NC State

12-5 (1-3ACC)

#17/18 Duke

12-4 (1-2ACC)

NC State

#17/18 Duke

1/7/2018 5:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score @PackWomensBball

Chelsea Nelson grabs a career-high 15 rebounds Sunday afternoon

January 7, 2018

DURHAM, N.C. – The NC State women's basketball team's streak of three straight victories in the series with Duke came to an end Sunday afternoon when the No. 17 Blue Devils (12-4, 1-2 ACC) earned a 69-56 victory over the Wolfpack (12-5, 1-3 ACC) inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Senior Chelsea Nelson grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds to go with 15 points for her sixth double-double of the season and the Wolfpack scored 22 points from 18 Duke turnovers, but it wasn't enough to overcome an outstanding individual performance by Lexie Brown (34 points) and a strong shooting performance by the Blue Devils which saw them operate at a 23-48 (.479) success rate from the field.

Brown scored her new career high of 34 points on 10-21 shooting and a blistering 7-13 clip from distance. She was joined in double figures by Haley Gorecki's 13 points and six assists.

Kiara Leslie (15 points), Aislinn Konig (12), and Kaila Ealey (10) joined Nelson in double figures. Leslie earned a new career high with five assists.

"I'll be honest, it makes me feel terrible that we weren't able to play better because you have 10 busloads of more than 400 people (making the trip from Raleigh)," NC State head coach Wes Moore said after the game. "They're great. They're so supportive. I told the team that it bothers me to let them down because some of them go through a lot to make this happen. Again, all I know is we will keep working, and hopefully we can repay their loyalty and support."

The Wolfpack slugged through a slow start to the game, looking up at an early 18-0 deficit before scoring 25 of the next 43 points to shrink the gap to 11 (36-25) at the halftime break. NC State held an 18-15 rebounding edge in the opening 20 minutes and Leslie led the team with nine points on 4-10 shooting.

Duke was hot from the field during the opening 20 minutes, hitting 12 of 22 (.545) field goals and going a scorching 6-10 (.600) from three-point range. Brown led the Blue Devils with 16 first-half points on 4-6 shooting from distance.

NC State went on an 11-4 run out of the break, with Konig knocking down two threes to start off third-quarter scoring for the Wolfpack. Ealey followed suit with a triple of her own, and NC State pulled within four points (40-36) for the first time since going down 4-0 at the 7:46 mark of the first quarter.

Duke responded with a 9-0 run of its own at the end of the third quarter to take a 55-40 lead into the final period. The Wolfpack continued to compete in the final minutes of play, narrowing Duke's lead to 10 on two occasions late in the game, but the Blue Devils hung on for the win.

NC State will play its next two games at home this upcoming week. The Wolfpack will host Georgia Tech on Wednesday, January 10 (7 p.m.) and Syracuse on Sunday, Jan. 14 (2 p.m.). Both games will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.

#GoPack | @PackWomensBball