Wake Forest University
NC State
Women's Hoops Falls To NC State, 70-57
1/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2003
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women??s basketball team struggled to find the basket, shooting 19 percent in the second half and 29 percent overall in a 70-57 loss to NC State on Thursday evening at Joel Coliseum. The Demon Deacons?? record now stands at 10-6, 1-5 in ACC play. NCSU improves to 9-8 overall, 4-2 in the league.
The Wolfpack got off to a strong start, going up 12-2 as Wake Forest struggled with its shooting, going just 1-of-12 from the floor in the opening minutes of the contest. The Deacs then seemed to warm up, going on a 13-6 run to cut the deficit to three, 18-15.
Despite NC State??s field goal percentage of 80 percent (12-of-15) to open the game, Wake Forest was able to erase a six-point deficit and even the score at 25 with back-to-back three-pointers from Tracy Alston and Eafton Hill with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half. The teams found themselves knotted again at 37-37 with one minute remaining, before Wake went on a 4-0 run to own a 41-37 advantage at the break, its largest lead of the game at the point.
As a team, the Wolfpack shot over 59 percent (16-of-27) in the first half. NC State??s Kaayla Chones was nearly perfect in the opening period, shooting 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from the line for 15 points to go with eight rebounds. The Deacons?? Tonia Brown matched her in the scoring column with 15 points of her own in the first stanza.
Wake Forest scored the first bucket of the second half to increase its lead to six, but the ??Pack came back to tie the score, 45-45 at the 16:42 mark. From there the Deacs hit another shooting slump, and NC State responded with a 13-3 scoring run that spanned the next 10 minutes of the contest. WFU could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way, and NCSU was able to run out the clock, finishing the game with its largest lead of the night, 13 points. The Wolfpack cooled off from the floor, shooting 38 percent in the second half, but helped their cause by converting 15-of-19 free throws after gettig just 4-of-5 from the line in the first half.
??Wake Forest really outplayed us in the first half,?? said NC State head coach Kay Yow. ??Our defensive intensity and rebounding in the second half won the game for us. We talked about the (lack of) free throws at the half, and we were more agressive inside in the second half, I think. We went to the boards more and consequently to the line more.??
??It was a disappointing night,?? said Charlene Curtis, head coach of the Demon Deacons. ??We weren??t making shots, we lacked flow to our offense. NC State??s full-court press hurt us some, but even with their half-court pressure we just lacked flow.??
Chones finished as the game??s leading scorer with 19 points, and also posted a double-double with 13 rebounds. Carisse Moody came off the bench to score 16 points in the Wolfpack effort.
For the Deacons, Hill also tallied a double-double -- her fourth of the season -- finishing with 11 points, 13 boards. Tonia Brown was WFU??s leading scorer with 17 points.
Next up for the Wake Forest is a trip to Clemson, S.C. to take on the Lady Tigers on Sunday, Jan. 26. Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m. and will be televised on the ACC regional package (locally on Fox Sports Net South).
