RALEIGH, N.C. — Virginia Tech couldn’t slow down No. 20 NC State in an 85-57 road loss on Sunday in Reynolds Coliseum.
“That first quarter, they came out fighting and punching and we didn’t really have an answer,” Tech head coach Megan Duffy said. “Was not thrilled with our defense, but the energy of the building and the way their guards played and really their big four, we just didn’t have a lot of answers tonight.”
The Hokies (14-6, 5-4 ACC) never led in the game as they struggled defensively from the jump. The Wolfpack (16-4, 8-1) had its best first-quarter offensive output of the season as it made 13 of its 17 looks, two of which were 3-pointers, and led 29-12 after one. Tech never recovered.
Azaiah James was fantastic for NC State. She did everything and more in the first quarter, making five of her seven looks for 12 points — matching the Hokies’ points total in that stretch — and Tech couldn’t keep her from getting downhill. In all, she posted 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting with five rebounds and four assists.
“Great scorer on all three levels,” Tech guard Carleigh Wenzel said of James. “I think she definitely sticks to her strengths, she doesn’t try to do too much. She’s a straight downhill driver, pull up when you give it to her, things like that. But just super aggressive.”
The Hokies never quite found an offensive rhythm, and even in the moments they did, they couldn’t sustain it. They turned the ball over six times in the first quarter, which allowed the Wolfpack to get out and run. It had 20 fastbreak points for the game, 10 of which came in the first.
Early foul trouble on Rose Micheaux also didn’t help the flow. She picked up two quick personals in a 16-second span at the end of the first. Between the miscues, inability to stop NC State from driving to the rim, lack of offensive rhythm and foul trouble, Tech found itself in a hole it couldn’t climb out of.
“I just thought we were a little bit delayed,” Duffy said of the offensive struggles. “When we got scored on early, I thought the flow of our offense wasn’t real crisp. We had worked on a lot of different ways they were guarding screens and I just thought our timing on our offense was a little bit off and just didn’t get to our spots quick enough. They did a few different things that we knew they were going to do, but unfortunately our execution wasn’t good enough on the road.”
The Hokies fought admirably in the second quarter and outscored the Wolfpack 17-15 behind eight points from Carys Baker and five from Mackenzie Nelson. They built up a head of steam, were able to find some stops and had an 11-4 run going into the final two minutes.
There were some opportunities to really cut into the lead there too, but Tech missed consecutive 3-pointers — off an NC State miss and then a turnover — before the Pack’s Madison Hayes ended the half with a layup. It was 44-29 at the break.
“I thought there was a group out there in that second quarter that ended up really fighting and keeping it close,” Duffy said, “but between the first and third quarters, didn’t have an answer for their paint production, their rebounding and just how well they shot from the field.”
Yet, things took a turn for the worse after halftime when NC State overwhelmed Virginia Tech. Though the teams traded buckets for the first few minutes, a 12-2 run — half of which came from Saniya Rivers — broke the dam and all but put the game away. The Wolfpack played its reserves in the final period.
One of the Hokies’ bright spots was freshman guard Leila Wells. The only player with a positive plus-minus at three, she played 15 minutes for the second straight game and posted a career-high six points on 3-of-5 shooting. She also grabbed three rebounds while dishing out two assists and didn’t turn the ball over.
The Chelsea, Mich., product stepped into a bigger role after Samyha Suffren was lost for the season with an injury and has slowly come on. Sunday was her best performance yet, and though she had some freshman moments on the defensive end, she looked the part.
“Leila was awesome,” Duffy said. “I thought she was aggressive, I thought her defense was overall really good, and she’s been showing it in practice. A little bit is just getting her comfortable in ACC play, in the environment, and with a few people in foul trouble, we had to go to her and I thought she did a great job.”
Overall, the Wolfpack finished 56 percent (36-of-64) from the field while the Hokies shot a 39 percent clip (24-of-61), including a 3-of-16 mark from long range. It was also a bad night at the free throw line on both sides — they were a combined 15-of-29 (52%).
Wenzel and Baker paced Tech with 18 and 15 points, respectively, while combining for nine rebounds. Along with Wells, they were the team’s three most effective offensive players at 17-of-34 (50%). Meanwhile, the rest of the group was 7-of-27 (26%), which included marks of 1-of-8 from Matilda Ekh, 2-of-8 from Lani White, 2-of-5 from Micheaux and 1-of-4 from Nelson.
On the NC State side, Rivers had 17 points while Hayes and Brooks chipped in 12 each. The Wolfpack also had a 42-31 advantage on the glass.
The road doesn’t get any easier for Tech as it returns home this Thursday to host No. 3 Notre Dame.
“You can play from behind at times,” Duffy said, “but when you’re playing a team like NC State on their home floor with the guards they have and the presence they have, I don’t want to wait to get behind the next time. We’ll have to learn from it.”
Box Score: No. 20 NC State 85, Virginia Tech 57