NC State women's hoops (18-2, 6-2 ACC) extended its winning streak to three games with an 82-61 defeat of Boston College (11-11, 3-6 ACC) Sunday afternoon in the Conte Forum.
Aziaha James led four double-figure Wolfpack scorers with 24 points, knocking down three triples in what was her fourth 20+ point game of the season.
Mimi Collins (17 points),
Saniya Rivers (15 points) and
Madison Hayes (14 points) also scored in double figures, with Hayes tallying a career-high 14 rebounds to lead the team on the boards and round out her third double-double of the season.
After a first quarter that featured four lead changes and two ties, NC State settled in at the start of the second and scored the first nine of that period to go up 25-13 and force Boston College to use its first timeout at the 7:27 mark.
Boston College scored its first bucket of the second quarter out of that break, but NC State shot 11-of-17 (.647) in the period while limiting the Eagles to just 3-of-14 (.214) at the same time. The Pack tied its biggest lead of the first half (16 points) with a
Madison Hayes three right before the break, and NC State went up by as many as 22 points (62-40) late in the third quarter.
In the fourth, Boston College went on an 11-3 run to make it an 11-point game. NC State took a timeout at the 7:42 mark with its lead at 65-54 and executed well down the stretch to never let the Eagles come closer than that 11-point barrier. A 9-0 run put the Pack back up by 20 points with under three and a half minutes remaining to help put away the squad's 18th win of the year.
NC State turned the ball over just three times in the second half and ended up shooting a combined 19-of-33 (.576) across the second and third quarters. The team also limited Boston College, which came into the game averaging 14.5 offensive boards, to just nine off the offensive glass.
The Wolfpack returns to Raleigh to play its next three games at home against ranked ACC teams. NC State kicks off the home stretch with a Thursday night matchup against rival North Carolina, with that game set for an 8 p.m. start on the ACC Network.
https://gopack.com/news/2024/1/28/womens-basketball-7-pack-wins-third-straight-beats-bc-82-61-on-road