Hoosiers Knock Off Wolfpack In Sweet 16

SAN ANONTIO, TX – The fourth-seeded Indiana Hoosiers knocked off the top seed NC State Wolfpack 73-70 in the NCAA Women’s Sweet 16 to end the Wolfpack’s season

After neither team scored for over a minute to start the game, Jada Boyd sparked the Wolfpack offense, going on a 7-0 run of her own to give the Pack an early 7-0 lead. Indiana responded with a 7-0 run of their own to tie the game at seven with 4:26 left in the first quarter. 

The Wolfpack closed the opening quarter on a 15-5 run to take a 22-14 at the end of one. Boyd had a huge first quarter with nine points to lead the Pack. Mackenzie Holmes was the leading scorer for the Hoosiers with four first-quarter points. Despite the lead, the Pack was sloppy turning the ball over five times in the opening quarter. 

Indiana began the second quarter with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 24 with 4:47 remaining in the quarter but Rain Perez buried a three-pointer to give the Wolfpack the lead right back at 27-24 with 4:30 left in the quarter. 

Indiana took their first lead since the score was 9-7 as they lead 34-33 at the half. Perez, Boyd, and Elissa Cuanne led the Wolfpack with nine points each. Holmes led the Hoosiers with eight points at the half. Aleksa Gulbe was key for Indiana in the first as she grabbed eight of the team’s 18 first-half rebounds. 

The Hoosiers opened the second half increasing their lead to seven just two minutes in, which forced NC State coach Wes Moore to call a timeout. Following the timeout, Indiana bumped the lead up to 12 (47-35) with 6:23 remaining in the third quarter.

Indiana extended the lead to 14 with 2:20 remaining as the Wolfpack were sloppy with the ball and kept turning the ball over.  NC State was able to cut the deficit to ten as they trailed 58-48 after three quarters.

Boyd led the Wolfpack with 13 points and Perez contributed 11 to lead the scoring through three quarters. Ali Patberg had a big third quarter for Indiana as she scored seven of her 14 in the period. Grace Berger and Nicole Hillary-Cardano scored 12 points each to help pace the Hoosiers offense.

NC State cut the lead to seven to start the fourth quarter, but Indiana came right back and bumped the lead back to 13 with 8:20 left in the game.  Indiana went cold not scoring for over two and a half minutes, and the Wolfpack took advantage cutting the deficit to eight at the media timeout in the fourth quarter. 

Holmes fouled out of the game for Indiana with three minutes remaining and the Wolfpack took advantage going on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to two and force a Hoosier with 1:21 remaining.

“I never doubted that we couldn’t come back until the final buzzer went off,” Cunane said following the game.

Following the timeout, Jada Boyd fouled out of the game with 18 points with 1:09 remaining in the game. 

NC State had several opportunities to tie the game in the final minute including a three-pointer by Cunane in the final five seconds but failed to convert. 

Indiana was led by Patberg with 17 points and Holmes with 16 points. NC State was led by Boyd with 18 points, Perez with 17 points, and Cunane with 15 points and 12 rebounds. The Wolfpack offense was sloppy all game as they turned the ball over 17 times.

“They made it hard on us to execute today. I give them a lot of credit,” NC State coach Wes Moore said following the game. “I’m proud of the way our girls fought all season with COVID, social injustice, and everything else going on.”

The Wolfpack (22-3) will now put their attention to the offseason, as they look to see what players will return for next season.