Sports

NC State Dominates Yellow Jackets on The Road

Alexis Bailey

RALEIGH, N.C. – Playing on the road was no challenge for the third-ranked NC State women’s basketball team as they traveled to Atlanta to defeat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 84-75.

The NC State (8-0, 3-0 ACC)  offense took the court looking like a well-oiled machine, from tip-off this team was ready to play. With the win, the Wolfpack earned its 9th consecutive victory this season and are 4-0 in conference keeping them at their current number three spot.

This has been some of the best basketball seen from NC State on the road. The Wolfpack came ready to play and was able to get into a rhythm right off the jump. Trailing by 26 points with 4:00 remaining before halftime, Georgia Tech struggled to keep up tremendously with the Wolfpack. NC State shot 63% from the floor. 

At the half, most of the damage from NC State came from inside the three, the Wolfpack ended the half leading with 54 points and the Yellow Jackets trailing with 29. Georgia Tech did not play a horrible game tonight however they were just not able to keep up with this elite NC State team. The Yellow Jackets went through the whole bench in the first half and only managed to shoot 30% from the field.

Georgia Tech began to step it up and come back in the second half, with the score at 63-43 with 3:00 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The Yellow Jackets came back from halftime ready to make up for the lack of effort in the 1st half. Junior guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen managed to lead the team both offensively and defensively, impressively ending the game with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Lorela Cubaj put up 15 and guard Sarah Bates put up an additional three. 

NC State remained consistent in the second half taking home the 84-75 win, however, they gave up over 30 points in the last half to the Yellow Jackets allowing them to truly put up a fight.

Forwards Kayla Jones and Jayda Boyd were both huge catalysts in the Wolfpacks’ win tonight over the Yellow Jackets. The senior forward Kayla Jones led the Pack in scoring with 16 points and 10 rebounds, with her third double-double of the year. Fellow Wolfpack forward Jayda Boyd played an amazing game tonight, showing that her knee injury would not hold her back. She put a total of 26 points on the board and had nine rebounds. Jakia Brown-Turner did not hold back tonight with 16 points and Elissa Cunane put up an additional eleven for the Wolfpack.

NC State returns back to Raleigh after the short holiday break, where The Wolfpack will host Boston College after narrowly escaping from an upset in Boston. The home game will be in Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday, Jan. 3rd for a 2 p.m. tip-off.