The North Carolina State women’s basketball team walked into the Kohl Center Saturday ranked as one of America’s top teams. The No. 10 Wolfpack walked out with their tails between their legs.
In their worst shooting performance of the season and unable to stop Wisconsin’s inside-out combo of point forward Tamara Moore and power forward Jessie Stomski, the Wolfpack scored only 48 points ? 19 fewer than their season average ? and made only 17 of 58 shots in a 65-48 loss.
“We can’t possibly defeat a really good team [by] shooting 29 percent from the floor,” N.C. State head coach Kay Yow said.
The small amount of offense that N.C. State did generate came primarily from its down-low duo of center Kaayla Chones and power forward Carisse Moody. Moody’s 14 points led the Wolfpack, and Chones fell a point and a rebound short of a double-double.
Besides those two, who hit eight of their 18 shots, the rest of the Wolfpack shot a terrible 19 percent from the floor, converting only six of 32 attempts.
For Wisconsin, Moore and Stomski headlined the show. The two seniors, who have combined for almost 50 percent of the Badgers’ points this season, scored 24 and 23 points, respectively. When Albright replaced Stomski after she missed five of her first six shots, Stomski responded to her re-insertion five minutes later by making three consecutive layups.
With only six rebounds, Stomski halted her streak of double-doubles at four games, but Moore easily compensated. The Badgers’ floor leader made 10 of 18 shots, captured seven boards, dealt six assists, and nabbed six steals. She also nailed a step-back three-pointer that put Wisconsin up by six points as the first-half horn sounded.
“This is one of the best games I’ve ever seen her play,” said Stomski, a teammate of Moore’s since 10th grade.
“I’m the emotional leader, and I’m out there to create shots for myself as well as for my teammates,” Moore said. “I think they were really concentrating on Kyle [Black] and Jessie, and I knew I had to do something.”
Early on, N.C. State appeared much more energized than Wisconsin, which was playing on its home floor for the first time since Nov. 27. The quick, athletic Wolfpack swarmed the Badgers on defense, forcing seven UW turnovers in the game’s first eight minutes. The Badgers seemed hurried, and they missed 11 of their first 13 shots, including at least three layups.
“We were a little tentative and probably had lost a little bit of our offensive confidence, no matter what anybody said, the other night,” UW head coach Jane Albright said, referring to UW’s game Wednesday against Marquette, in which Wisconsin scored two points in the first 10 minutes.
“Kyle [Black], I think when she came out and sat on the bench, I was surprised they didn’t come over and sit with her on the bench. She just didn’t get any clean looks. They were all over her.”
The Wolfpack, however, didn’t capitalize on the Badgers’ struggles. Despite holding UW to just five points in 12 minutes to start the game, N.C. State made only four of its first 16 attempts. Up against UW’s combination of a full-court press and a half-court defense packed inside, the Wolfpack simply couldn’t make enough jump shots to stay in the game, despite out-rebounding UW 49-37. Liz Bailey hit N.C. State’s first three-pointer with 9:36 left in the game.
After three white-hot shooting performances in the past week, Black cooled off against N.C. State. The shooting guard who made 16 of 24 three-pointers and 22 of 36 shots overall against Pittsburgh, Holy Cross and Marquette hit two of seven shots, both three-pointers.
For the second consecutive game Wisconsin held its opponent’s shooting percentage under 33 percent. On the season, teams have shot only 37.8 percent against Wisconsin.
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