A solid effort spoiled by one rough three minute stretch
McCAMISH PAVILION — #20 Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball had a lead for a short bit in the third quarter, then #13 NC State ran away with the game on a 17-0 run to power their 83-68 win over the Jackets. Tech now is 21-6 (9-6 ACC) on the season, going 6-6 in their last twelve games.
“Look, NC State shot the heck out of the ball,” said Georgia Tech head coach Nell Fortner after the game. “We gave up too many middle drives and too many things that made it really hard to defend them off the bounce.”
NC State shot 53% to Tech’s 40%, hitting 77% of their shots in the third quarter where they finished on a 14-0 run.
“That’s the disappointing part. They just show the ball so well and we didn’t do a whole lot to affect them,” said Fortner.
Down the rest of the scoresheet, it wasn’t a bad game for Tech. Tonie Morgan scored 17 with five assists and rebounds. Carnegie got back into a good groove with 16 points, Kayla Blackshear was one rebound away from a double-double. In critical moments though, Tech didn’t do enough.
“The turnovers were crucial at crucial times and our defense was pourous at stopping the jump shot,” said Fortner. At one point down three points in the third quarter, Ines Noguero had steals on back to back plays, but even with chances at good looks Tech came up empty. They eventually did get the lead a couple possessions later, but then began NC State’s 17-0 run that defined the story of the game.
The loss keeps Tech one game back of Cal for 7th in the ACC. As long as they stay in the top 9 of the ACC, they will receive a bye to the 2nd round of the ACC Tournament. It is virtually impossible at this point to reach 4th and get a double bye.
Tech faces Florida State on Sunday afternoon in the home finale before finishing the season next week in California.
[1Q]
After a 4-2 NC State lead to start the game in the first 90 seconds, both teams went very cold from the field (Tech 1 of 11 at a point), Tech not getting their third field goal until close to the four minute mark from a Dani Carnegie three to make it 8-4 GT. Aziaha James responded immediately for NC State with a three of her own before another round of bucket trading to give Tech a 10-9 lead into the 2:57 media timeout.
Then, the offense unlocked for both squads, Tech only scoring two buckets to NC State’s run of five straight makes as part of a 12-5 run from four scorers to take a six point lead into the quarter end.
Stats via Georgia Tech
2Q (21-15 NC State)
Two James threes powered NC State’s run to a double-digit lead early in the quarter, making it 29-18 where Fortner called Tech’s first timeout at the 6:49 mark. One more NC State bucket stretched their lead to 13 before a couple Morgan buckets and a Ines Noguero three quickly made it a two possession game for Tech down 35-30 with 3:20 left. NC State kept getting buckets amidst Tech’s improved offense, which came with another Morgan bucket plus shots from Zoe Smith and Kayla Blackshear to hold the two possession deficit going into halftime.
Stats via Georgia Tech
3Q (42-36 NC State)
Offense was aflurry from the start, both sides trading baskets for the first 2:30 of the quarter, Tech getting consecutive buckets from Kayla Blackshear. Finally a Kara Dunn three cut NC State’s lead in half making it 48-45 in the Wolfpack’s favor. Tech had a chance to take the outright lead from back to back Noguero steals but came up empty on both possessions. Luckily James missed a pair of free throws allowing Zoe Smith to hit a layup in the transition posession to make it a one point game, starting another run of back and forth buckets up to the 4:20 media timeout, NC State leading 52-49.
Carnegie hit two big shots in a row to give Tech a one point lead with three minutes left…and oh boy did it derail immediately. A 14-0 run for the Wolfpack closed the quarter, raising their shooting percentage to 58% on the game behind buckets from a whole rota of players.
Stats via Georgia Tech
4Q (66-53 NC State)
The ‘pack’s scoring run reached 17-0 before Tonie Morgan hit a bucket to make it 69-55, though Tech was hit with three fouls in the first 61 seconds of the quarter. Made baskets by Dunn and Blackshear pulled Tech back to within eight at the 7:15 mark down 71-63 before going on a 2:30+ scoring drought. Carnegie ended that with a three and nearly got another in transition, but instead marked the first of two consecutive possessions Tech had open looks in transition that went empty, keeping it a nine point game where they called timeout at the 3:27 mark. Tech didn’t hit the needed shots immediately after the timeout, letting NC State cruise to the 15 point win.
Stats & Game Leaders
Stats via Georgia Tech
Game Leaders
Points: Aziaha James (NC St)/Zoe Brooks (NC St)/Tonie Morgan (GT) – 17
Assists: Sania Rivers (NC St) – 8
Rebounds: Kayla Blackshear (GT) – 9
3PM: Madison Hayes (NC St)/Dani Carnegie (GT) – 4