Coach Wes Moore Earns 100th Victory in NC State Win FSU

RALEIGH, N.C. — No. 3 NC State women’s hoops (20-3, 11-1 ACC) picked up right where it left off in home action with a 20-point victory over visiting Florida State (10-10, 4-6 ACC), beating the visiting Seminoles by a 68-48 score inside Reynolds Coliseum on Thursday night.

With the win, the Wolfpack secured a 20-win campaign for the seventh season in a row and extended its home winning streak against league opponents to 14 games. The Wolfpack victory also marked head coach Wes Moore‘s 100th ACC win in nine seasons at NC State. He accomplished the feat in 140 games, the fourth-fastest women’s basketball coach in the league’s history to do so.

The Wolfpack shot the lights out in their victory over the Seminoles, going 11 for 23 (47.8%) from behind the arc.

Diamond Johnson was notably absent from the scoring column, for the first time in her collegiate career. Johnson (11.4 PPG) is the Wolfpack’s second-best scorer behind Elissa Cunane (13.5 PPG), but on Thursday night’s game, Johnson was unable to find the bottom of the bucket. 

Johnson is a solidified sixth man, getting starting level playing time averaging almost 23 minutes a game, and has been an electric scoring option off the bench of NC State. But on Thursday night Wes Moore decided to go with a different rotation, giving big minutes to Kayla Jones and Jada Boyd who were both shooting the ball efficiently, while still relying on his stars in Cunane, Raina Perez, and Jakia Brown-Turner. 

While NC State finished the game with a healthy 20 point lead, the next film room session will still show much to be desired. Wolfpack entered Thursday’s matchup against the Seminoles looking to feed Elissa Cunane in the post. And while they were able to provide Cunane with some touches which lead to good offensive possessions, there were also some sloppy turnovers on poor entry passes. 

It would be nice to see the Pack run more pick-and-roll sets with Cunane as the roller. When Cunane crashes to the basket it forces the defense to collapse and creates separation and space on the court which allows the ball to swing to open shooters. 

The Wolfpack will go on to face Georgia Tech in the second of their two-game homestand, and then go on the road to play Boston College and then Duke. For Florida State, they look forward to playing a solidified Notre Dame team who beat NCSU just a couple of days earlier. 

Brown-Turner – 13 PTS, 4 REB

Perez – 11 PTS, 8 AST

Cunane – 11 PTS, 6 REB

Gordon – 12 PTS, 2 AST