No. 12 NC State women's basketball (25-5, 13-5) won its second straight on Sunday afternoon, closing out its regular season campaign with a 75-57 win over Wake Forest (6-24, 2-16) on Senior Day.
Playing in front of its 13th sold-out crowd of the season, NC State honored the careers of three players
River Baldwin,
Mimi Collins and
Madison Hayes in a Senior Day ceremony prior to the game.
With the victory, the Wolfpack secured the No. 2 seed for the upcoming ACC Tournament after jumping six spots from its predicted finish in the ACC preseason poll. That jumped tied as the largest jump from preseason ranking into the ACC top four since the league started releasing its preseason poll in 1991-92.
Saniya Rivers led the way for the Wolfpack with 23 points, while Collins tabbed 18 points and Baldwin contributed 13 in their last regular-season games in Reynolds Coliseum.
Aziaha James added 12 as well, while Collins collected a game-high nine rebounds, and the frontcourt duo of Rivers and
Zoe Brooks passed out a team-best four assists apiece.
Despite a slow start from the Pack's offense, NC State used a strong defensive effort in the first half to propel itself to an eight-point halftime edge at 24-16. The Wolfpack defense forced Wake Forest into seven turnovers while surrendering just six made shots from the field, with the Demon Deacons netting just two of its first 26 field goal attempts. The 16 first-half points scored by Wake were the fewest allowed by the Pack in ACC play.
After sluggish starts on the offensive end for both squads, both the Wolfpack and the Demon Deacons found their strides in the third frame. Wake Forest outscored NC State 31-24 in the penultimate period, trimming the Pack's lead to one point at 48-47 as the in-state foes headed to the fourth quarter.
While it was the Deacs that struck first in the final frame with a three-pointer from Raegyn Conley to push Wake ahead 50-48, the Wolfpack countered with a 19-2 run over 5:32 of play to ice the game and secure its 10th straight win over Wake Forest.
NC State secured its spot as the No. 2 seed in the 2024 ACC Tournament that is set to run March 6-10 in Greensboro, N.C. The Wolfpack will open tournament action in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 8, with that game set for a 5 p.m. start on the ACC Network.
https://gopack.com/news/2024/3/3/womens-basketball-12-pack-beats-demon-deacons-75-57-on-senior-day 
