NC State women's basketball gutted out its fourth-straight overtime win and earned its seventh AP Top 25 victory of the season as the 12th-ranked Wolfpack (24-5, 12-5 ACC) defeated visiting 19th-ranked Syracuse (23-6, 13-5 ACC) on Thursday night.
With the victory, the Wolfpack clinched a double-bye in the 2024 ACC Tournament and is a victory away from securing the No. 2 overall seed for next week's event.
The Wolfpack trailed by three with just over a minute remaining before
Saniya Rivers knocked one down from beyond the arc at the 1:12 mark of the fourth quarter. NC State forced a turnover after that and scored on its next possession to go up two (66-64), but a late foul call against the Pack sent Syracuse to the free throw line with 0.1 left in regulation where the Orange converted on both free throws to force overtime.
In the extra five minutes, Syracuse went up just once (69-68) with a three at the 2:03 mark, but NC State did not let the Orange knock down another field goal in overtime. NC State outscored the Orange 9-5 in overtime, with Rivers knocking down some crunch time free throws to seal the win.
Rivers put up 22 points to lead the team in scoring, and
Mimi Collins and
River Baldwin joined her in double figures with 15 and 13, respectively. Baldwin led all players on the floor with 13 boards, a new career high, in what was her second double-double in a row, and
Madison Hayes also hauled in 10 boards.
Zoe Brooks was instrumental defensively against the NCAA's No. 5 all-time leading scorer and also tied Rivers for the team lead in assists dished out in the win.
In what was a game of runs during which neither team ever led by double digits, NC State led by three (38-35) after the first half after trailing by as many as eight points in the second quarter. With its deficit at 31-23 with 6:14 remaining in the first half, NC State went on an 8-0 run and ultimately scored 15 of the last 19 of the half to carry its narrow edge into the locker room.
Syracuse retook the lead with a run in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but NC State remained resilient and never let the Orange get ahead by more than six at any point in the third or fourth quarters. The Pack narrowly trailed for a five-minute span in the fourth before Rivers hit that three to tie it up.
NC State will close out its regular-season slate at home on Sunday, March 3 with a game against in-state foe Wake Forest. Tip-off between the Wolfpack and the Demon Deacons is set for 2 p.m. on ACCNX. Tickets are sold out but available for resale on
SeatGeek, the official fan-to-fan marketplace of the Wolfpack.
The Wolfpack will honor three members of its senior class
River Baldwin,
Mimi Collins,
Madison Hayes with a pregame ceremony that will begin at 1:40 p.m.
https://gopack.com/news/2024/2/29/womens-basketball-wolfpack-womens-hoops-beats-orange-in-seventh-ranked-win-of-season