NC State
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Kansas State
4-1,0-0Big 12
#5 NC State Wraps Up 4-0 Run at Preseason WNIT Classic with 90-69 Win Over Kansas State
11/19/2021 9:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball
RALEIGH – The fifth-ranked NC State women's basketball squad (4-1) completed its perfect 4-0 run through the Preseason WNIT Classic by capping off the week-long event with a 90-69 home victory over Kansas State (4-1) on Friday night.
Coming into the final game of the Classic, both the Wolfpack and the Wildcats had gone 3-0 in their respective four-team pods last weekend. NC State handed Kansas State its first loss of the 2021-22 campaign as the Pack played against its third Power Five opponent in its first five games.
Four Wolfpack players scored in double figures on Friday. Elissa Cunane tallied a team-leading 18 and was joined by Diamond Johnson (13), Kayla Jones (12) and Raina Perez (12).
Johnson led the team in rebounds with seven on the night, three off the offensive glass, and helped NC State out-rebound Kansas State 36-24 in total. Perez's 12-point night came with a four-assist, zero-turnover outing for the graduate guard.
The Wolfpack shot 54.8 percent (34-of-62) as a team and knocked down 10 three pointers, marking its fourth game in a row hitting that mark. Kansas State entered the game ranked eighth nationally in three-point field-goal defense (.138), but NC State shot 45.5 percent from long range in the win. Six different players knocked down a three in the game, with Jones, Perez, Kai Crutchfield and Jakia Brown-Turner hitting two apiece.
The Pack's 90 points marked its fourth game in a row scoring 85 or more, and NC State had not strung together such a streak since 1996-97 when it had seven-straight games with 85 or more points scored.
The Pack and the Wildcats were knotted at 19 through the first quarter after both shooting 8-of-14 (.571) and knocking down three triples apiece in the opening 10 minutes. The squads traded buckets to open the second quarter, but a three-point play by Cunane out of the media timeout (4:05) ignited a run for the Wolfpack. NC State scored nine unanswered in a three-minute span, with that run including another and one by center Camille Hobby. The first half featured three ties and five lead changes, and NC State scored 11 of the final 14 points to lead by 10 (42-32) at the break.
Kansas State got within five (47-42, 6:38) in the early stages of the third quarter, but NC State managed to maintain its distance with the help of three treys in the period. The Pack went on to score 11 of the first 13 of the fourth quarter to draw away, and the Wildcats did not get closer than 16 points for the final eight minutes of the outing.
NC State's bench scored 31 points, highlighted by nine off the bench by Hobby. She scored six of those in a key stretch of the fourth quarter. Crutchfield added nine points to match Hobby's number, and Aziaha James notched seven and added a pair of steals in just over five minutes of playing time.
NC State heads away from home for the first time this season as it makes the trip to Nassau, Bahamas for the 2021 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship. The Wolfpack will face No. 3 Maryland on Thursday, Nov. 25 (11 a.m.) and will take on Washington State on Saturday, Nov. 27 (6 p.m.).
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