Wake Forest University
North Carolina State
Deacons Fall On The Road At NC State
2/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ Kay Yow got what she wanted from her North Carolina State players. First came a better effort on defense, followed later by a much-needed victory.
"The team has committed themselves to getting better on defense," the Hall of Fame coach said. "It definitely is something that can keep us in all games we play, if we just play it solid and play it well."
Ashley Key missed only one of her 12 free throws and had 19 points, Marquetta Dickens had her second career double-double and N.C. State snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Wake Forest 73-60 Thursday night.
Dickens finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds while Billie McDowell added 11 points for the Wolfpack (14-9, 4-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), who rank in the top 10 nationally in RPI but sit in the middle of the pack in the conference. Two of their final four games are at home as they try to get back to .500.
"We just tried to pull it together as a team," Key said. "We just tried to lift everybody up, saying this was another day, another game, another chance to get a win. We just went out there and got to work."
Deirdre Naughton had 22 points for the Demon Deacons (10-12, 2-8), and Yolanda Lavender and Cotelia Bond-Young each added 11. For freshmen Naughton and Lavender, the efforts were season highs.
But second-leading scorer Liz Strunk had only three points before fouling out, nearly 11 below her average and her worst output all year. She and Bond-Young combined to go 4-for-19 as Wake Forest shot 32 percent and failed to complete its first sweep in the series in 10 years.
"I thought we had some really good looks that we didn't make, but some of the credit has to go to N.C. State," Deacons coach Mike Petersen said. "And some of that's on us. If you're going to compete as an athlete and compete at this level, when you get open shots, you've got to deliver."
N.C. State pulled away from a close game with a 19-3 run that spanned halftime, with McDowell contributing two 3-pointers and Dickens matching those six points. The Deacons, meanwhile, had six turnovers and went 1-of-6 from the field, with Bond-Young's 3 their only points.
When Dickens capped the stellar stretch with a layup off a nifty pass from Monica Pope, the Wolfpack led 51-31.
"I think definitely we stepped it up on the defensive end," Key said. "Our defense always leads to our offense, and I'm pretty sure that's what took us on that run."
The margin still was 17 before Wake Forest mounted one final comeback to get within 10. All the points came from Lavender, who didn't even score in her previous game. She drove down the lane, got inside again for another basket and converted three free throws when fouled on a jumper from outside the arc.
"I think we all came together," Naughton said. "That had to be one of the best team efforts, because we came together and talked to each other more than we've ever done."
Those made it 56-46, but it was as close as the Deacons could get. Khadijah Whittington helped increase N.C. State's lead with a three-point play before Pope added one of her own, and the Wolfpack cruised from there.
"I just thought defensively, they raised it to another level," Yow said of her team. "They've been working really hard on defense and rebounding, and we did a much better job."
