My attempts to find a, uh, borrowed FloSports feed to catch this morning’s game proved as useless as always, and I guess that’s just as well, as it sounds like NC State played three very frustrating quarters.
State took a 45-38 edge into the fourth quarter, then went and blew the doors off of Southern and its upset bid. That’s a 32-9 fourth quarter advantage for the Pack (it was 31-4 at one point).
Torvik had State winning this game by 24, so in the end, hey, right on target. Not the optimal route to it, but whatever works. NC State shot the ball badly—or rather, everyone other than Zoe Brooks shot the ball badly for a good portion of the day.
Brooks paced her team with 17 points on 5-10 shooting (5-7 on twos) from the field and 7-9 shooting at the free throw line. Led by her efforts, State shot better than 58% on twos to compensate for a 5-20 effort from three, and an underwhelming performance at the free throw line.
And State’s defense limited Southern to 35.3% shooting on twos while controlling the boards. That was the major difference in this one.
Next up is a likely matchup with LSU on Wednesday afternoon, though the Tigers still have to deal with Washington first.