NC State women’s basketball beats Longwood, advances to face Kansas State Wildcats
It took N.C. State a while to get going, but once the Wolfpack did, Longwood didn’t stand a chance.
N.C. State used a strong second quarter to snap out of a funk to defeat the Lancers, 96-68, in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, the program’s fifth straight first-round win.
The Wolfpack (30-3) will face Kansas State (20-12) on Monday at Reynolds Coliseum. The Wildcats defeated Washington State, 50-40, in the first game of the day.
N.C. State beat Kansas State by 21 on Nov. 19.
“Proud of our kids,” N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said. “We had streaks, kind of, but we’ve been off a couple of weeks. I think it was good to get back out there and be able to get a little momentum, a little confidence going. I thought we did that in stretches.”
In order for the Wolfpack to advance, it will have to avoid another slow start.
It was a six-point game midway through the second quarter when N.C. State finally looked like a No. 1 seed. The Wolfpack closed the second quarter on a 19-2 run and outscored Longwood (22-12) 23-6 in the second. It was the 22nd time this year the Pack held an opponent to single digits in a quarter.
Guards Raina Perez and Diamond Johnson combined for 15 points in the second and N.C. State led by 21 at the break. Jakia Brown-Turner started the third quarter with consecutive 3s to push the lead to 27.
“I think we were just in our heads,” Perez said about the slow start. “We missed a lot of shots, we didn’t get back (on defense). We just tried to stretch the lead honestly and tried to come out strong and just dominate the game.”
The Lancers’ best player, Akila Smith, who had 32 against Mount St. Mary’s in the First Four, had 25 points, one of three Longwood players in double figures.
“We prepared a few different ways,” Moore said. “We just told K.J. (Kayla Jones) and Jada Boyd try to keep it out of her hands. We focused on trying to get a lot of help in the gaps on her.”
On the other side, N.C. State had five players finish with 10 or more.
With 6-foot-5 Elissa Cunane roaming the paint — Longwood’s tallest starter was 5-11 — the easy strategy seemed to be to feed Cunane all night. The All-American finished with 13 points, but the guards did a lot of the damage, too.
Perez, who scored 14 in the first half, finished with 16. It was the second straight double-digit game for the graduate point guard, who did more distributing than scoring down the stretch.
“I kind of just take my shots as they come,” Perez said. “I try not to force anything, but if I’m open, I’m going to take it.”
Brown-Turner finished with 15. Jada Boyd and Johnson each added 12 off the bench. The N.C. State reserves outscored the Longwood backups 46-7.
“That’s what you need this time of the year,” Moore said. “You need a lot of depth and I think we have that. We have a lot of people who can step up on (any) given day. It’s exciting to see that this time of year.”
Brown-Turner added that anyone on the team could start, so it’s not even fair to call them bench players.
“It’s great to see them come out and contribute,” Brown-Turner said. “And just keep the dice rolling.”
The Pack took advantage of its size all over the floor. N.C. State had an 50-38 edge in rebounding and points in the paint, 40-18. N.C. State improves to 4-0 all-time against Longwood, which was making its first NCAA tournament appearance.
The win was the 11th in a row for the Wolfpack, and 10th straight win at home. It was also the 27th win all-time for the Pack in the NCAA tournament. The 30 wins are a single-season school record.
“It’s great,” Brown-Turner said. “We’re making history, we just want to keep doing that and keep playing our game.”
Monday’s game time will be announced on Sunday.
“We have a long path ahead of us,” Moore said. “We’re focus on one step at a time, hopefully we can continue to do that.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2022 at 4:15 PM.
