Kayla Jones NC State Wolfpack Spectacular Magazine Lawrence Davis III
Sports

NC State Routs Gaels For Moore’s 200th Victory

Lawrence Davis III @LawDavis13 @SpecMagSports

RALEIGH, N.C. — The NC State women’s basketball team used a dominant 25-7 first quarter to lead to a 101-73 Wolfpack rout of the visiting Saint Mary’s Gaels on Sunday afternoon in Reynold’s Coliseum.

The victory marked head coach Wes Moore’s 200th at NC State. He accomplished the feat in 266 career games with the Wolfpack, making him the fifth-fastest coach to reach 200 wins at an ACC program. On his career, Moore’s win total stands at 758, with that number ranking seventh among active Division I women’s basketball head coaches and 15th all-time.

NC State spread its minutes out among 13 players, with 10 women playing at least a quarter’s worth of time in the win. Four players hit double figures in scoring, and nine tallied eight or more points in another balanced scoring attack for the Wolfpack.

Senior center Elissa Cunane led the team in points (15) and rebounds (9) as she finished just shy of a double-double. Kayla Jones added 13 points, and Jakia Brown-Turner and Aziaha James tacked on 11 each.

Cunane’s point total put her right at 1,500 in her 100th career game played at NC State. The Summerfield, N.C., native became just the 18th player in program history to hit that mark. Cunane had 13 points and seven rebounds in the first quarter alone as she accounted for over half of the Pack’s 25 points in the opening period.

The Wolfpack shot 52.7 percent (39-of-74), marking its sixth game shooting 50+ percent from the field. The team knocked down 10 of its 20 three-pointers to also hit the 50 percent mark from distance for the third time this year. NC State took great care of the ball with a season-low in turnovers (7), and the team out-rebounded Saint Mary’s 40-33 after the Gaels came into the game averaging 43 rebounds per game this season.

NC State jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter and did not look back. Saint Mary’s scored first, but that was its only lead of the game as the Pack scored the last 18 of the opening quarter to take a 25-7 advantage after 10 minutes. The Wolfpack’s 50-25 lead at the half marked its second-largest halftime lead of the season and also tied as the most first-half points it has scored this season.

NC State continues its home stretch on Thursday, Dec. 16 when it hosts No. 21 Georgia. The top-25 matchup is set for a 6 p.m. start inside Reynolds Coliseum, and the game will be televised nationally on the ACC Network.