Down but never out, NC State battles back to knock off Georgia Tech
Never underestimate the heart of a champion.
N.C. State, the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament, trailed by 10 points with 8:51 remaining. But the Wolfpack went on a furious run, retaking the lead and defending its tournament title, defeating Georgia Tech, 66-61, in the semifinal round. N.C. State will face No. 1 seed Louisville in the ACC title game Sunday at noon.
Down, but not out, the Wolfpack refused to lose, showing the championship heart that took them to the title game for the second year in a row.
“This time of year people are stepping it up and taking it to another level,” N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said. “You have to match that or you’re going home. The first half they just hit us in the mouth and took it to us. The second half we competed a lot better and that’s what champions do, they find a way to win.”
The Wolfpack went on a 20-6 run, capped off by six points late from Elissa Cunane and some timely jumpers from senior Kai Crutchfield. The guard from Raleigh had two points entering the fourth, but played her best basketball down the stretch. Cunane and Crutchfield each scored 8 in the final quarter. Cunane finished with a team-high 23 and Crutchfield 10, each bucket she hit in the fourth bigger than the previous shot.
“We’ve been calling her Kai Clutch-field all season,” Cunane said. “She’s a senior who wants to win every game that she plays and she’s going to give her all for it. She knows how to step up in big games and she’s done it repeatedly over the course of the season.”
Crutchfield hit an open three to make it a one-point Yellow Jackets’ lead. Earlier in the fourth quarter she scored an old-fashioned three-point play that cut the lead to seven. It was that play that Cunane said lit the fire. Crutchfield came into the contest averaging 7.4 points per game, known more for her ability to lock players down on defense. But facing elimination, Crutchfield put the ball in the basket when her team needed it the most.
“Of course we were down and we needed something to spike our mojo,” Crutchfield said. “I think we just needed some type of energy to spark us. I really just took what the defense gave me and executed the offense. We do that stuff in practice, it’s just that my name was called.”
One of three seniors in the starting lineup, Crutchfield, who has started 70 games in her career, couldn’t let the team worry about the score, or time remaining, when things weren’t going their way.
“Remaining calm is honestly one of the most important things,” Crutchfield said. “We continued to lift each other up and I think that helped us in the comeback. I was able to step up and hit some big shots in order to get us to the next step.”
Fantastic fourth
Most of the fourth quarter, N.C. State kept throwing hooks, but could never floor the poised Yellow Jackets. The Wolfpack trailed by 10 after Georgia Tech guard Loyal McQueen hit a three from the corner. State, though, playing in front of fans for just the second time this season, battled back, cutting the lead to four after five straight from Jakia Brown-Turner.
Brown-Turner went scoreless in the third quarter, but gave the team a spark in the fourth, igniting the partisan N.C. State crowd. The sophomore, who was a first team All-ACC selection, let Cunane and Crutchfield take over the rest of the way. Crutchfield scored five straight, and Cunane closed out the game scoring seven straight, including two from the line to make it a five-point lead. The Wolfpack outscored Georgia Tech 23-13 in the fourth quarter. When it looked like things were going south, N.C. State remained calm.
“We just had to be level headed,” Cunane said. “We know what it’s like to be down and come back, so we really had to have confidence in ourselves. We just had to find energy in the little things and execute.”
Cunane, Crutchfield and senior Kayla Jones combined for 31 of the 38 second half points for N.C. State, setting up a rematch with the Cardinals, the top seeded team in the tournament. The Wolfpack defeated Louisville, who was the No. 1 team in the country at the time, 74-60, on the road.
Rematch with Louisville
Moore said his team has “found a way to win” the first two games of the tournament, but knows they need to play a complete game if they are to repeat as tournament champions.
“Louisville is a great team, I know we are going to get their A-game,” Moore said. “We’re going to have to play better than we played in these first two games. I wouldn’t say we are clicking by any means. We’re going to have to have it all come together and match their intensity.”
The Cardinals defeated Syracuse, 72-59, in the other semifinal. It will be the third time in the past four years that Louisville has played in the final.
In the previous game, N.C. State got a big night from the combo of Cunane (16 points), Brown-Turner (16), Jada Boyd (16) and Raina Perez (15). The Cardinals feature ACC Player of the Year Dana Evans, who scored 29 in the first match up in Kentucky.
“Louisville is a great team,” Cunane said. “We just have to go out there and play basketball the way we know how to play.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2021 at 2:25 PM.
