NC State
4-2,0-0ACC
Southern
0-7,0-0SWAC
Big Fourth Quarter Propels Pack Past Southern
11/25/2024 1:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NASSAU, BAHAMAS – NC State women's basketball used a 25-2 run in the fourth quarter to speed past Southern, 77-47, in the first game of the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship. The Pack took a narrow seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter, and then exploded to outscore the Jaguars 32-9 in the fourth. In a game that had 12 lead changes and nine ties, three Pack players scored in double digits, led by Zoe Brooks' 17 points.
The Pack outscored Southern in points off turnovers (21-4), points in the paint (36-16), second chance points (9-0), fast breaks (6-0) and bench points (30-10). NC State outrebounded the Jaguars 42-31.
NC State won its sixth straight tipoff, as Brooks got the Pack going with a layup. Southern then went on a 5-0 run, while the Pack was in a drought for nearly three minutes. Madison Hayes broke the drought with a layup. With 4:18 left in the first, NC State trailed 9-7. Mallory Collier tied the game twice in the latter part of the first quarter with a pair of layups, and at the end of the first, the game was tied at 14-14.
The Pack pulled back ahead to start the second quarter with an Aziaha James jumper, but that was NC State's lone field goal for nearly five minutes until Brooks nailed down another jumper. Brooks then knocked down two free throws to pull the Pack back ahead and logged nine of the Pack's 15 points in the second quarter. Tied with 30 seconds left in the half, Zamareya Jones drilled a 3-pointer, giving NC State the 29-26 edge at the half.
James drove to the basket and converted the 3-point play and Saniya Rivers capitalized off a steal and score to extend the Pack's lead to six at the start of the second half. The Jaguars then went on a 5-0 run to cut the Pack's lead to one, and at the media timeout taken at 4:54, NC State led, 34-33. The Pack did not score any points for four minutes until Collier hit one of two free throws. NC State closed out the third quarter with three straight field goal makes thanks to two by Lorena Awou and one by Hayes to pull the Pack ahead, 45-38 at the end of the third.
Jones nailed a jumper to extend the Pack's lead to nine at the start of the fourth quarter. Then Jones knocked down a 3-pointer, which initiated a 14-0 run for the Pack. That run was highlighted by three forced turnovers in three minutes and a 3-pointer by James pulled the Pack ahead by 24 with 4:25 left in the game. Southern dug out of its five-minute scoring drought with a jumper, but the Pack did not let the foot off the gas, going on a 12-0 run with Tilda Trygger's jumper giving NC State its largest lead of the game at 34. The Pack went on the win by its largest margin of the season, 77-47, while holding Southern to 30 percent from the field.
Message to team after 30-point win:
"I thought in the first half, [Southern] played harder than we did. We can't let that happen. We are just not a good enough team right now to coast to a W… [In the first half] I think sometimes we let our offense affect our defense… Hopefully we learn from it. Obviously the fourth quarter was much better, impressive and hopefully we can keep that kind of momentum going, but we are going to need it Wednesday for whoever we play. We are going to have to play a whole lot better… From here on out, it's going to be tough, so we have to be ready to play for 40 minutes."
On Aziaha James' bounce back after going down in first half:
"I think she is fine. We took some precaution there [in the first half], and again, we need her to play well, and she started out not too well, so we have to get our great players playing great somehow."
On playing LSU or Washington:
"Obviously I peeped ahead and watched a little film on [LSU].... They play hard and get after it. And we are going to have to match that intensity if that's who we play. It's not going to be fun. We have played two Power 4s and have come up short, and now we are talking about one of the top teams in the country, if that's who we play, we'll have to play really well. Now Washington, the way they can stay in the game is having kids that can shoot. If they are having a good shooting day, they can hang around. We will see what happens."
PACK FACTS
- Brooks led the Pack in scoring for the second time this season with 17 points of 5-of-10 from the field and 7-of-9 from the line, She added three rebounds
- James logged 12 points, 10 of those in the second half, with three boards and two steals. She logged her 15th consecutive 10+ point game
- Jones registered 13 points in 26 minutes played off the bench with five rebounds and a team-high five assists. She also finished with a +/- of 34
- Rivers tallied five points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal and block and Collier had five points and six rebounds in 18 minutes
- Trygger had five points off the bench
- The Pack won its 84th win in a regular season tournament.
UPCOMING
The Pack will play the winner of LSU or Washington in the championship game on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 1:30 p.m. on FloCollege.
