RALEIGH – Sixth-ranked NC State women’s basketball dropped its first ACC contest of the 2022-23 campaign, falling 72-58 to visiting Duke on Thursday night.
With the loss, the Wolfpack moved to 11-2 on the year and 1-1 in league action. It marked the team’s first time losing a home ACC contest since Feb. 24, 2020 (also against Duke), snapping an 18-game streak for NC State.
Saniya Rivers led the Wolfpack in both points and rebounds with 17 and seven, respectively. Aziaha James (11 points) and Jakia Brown-Turner (12 points) joined her in double figures, with James’ mark standing as the most the sophomore has scored in an ACC game.
NC State led after the first quarter, jumping ahead at the buzzer courtesy of a Brown-Turner half-court shot to close the frame. Duke then outscored the Pack by 15 (25-10) in the second quarter to enter halftime with a 35-23 edge that was NC State’s first time trailing by double-digits at the break in nearly a year. The Wolfpack responded in the third quarter, closing the frame on a 12-5 run to trim Duke’s lead to six points. While the Pack threatened multiple times in the final period, the Blue Devils never let it get closer than five points and iced the game away with a 10-of-10 mark at the charity stripe.
The Wolfpack shot just 35.6 percent (21-of-59), just its third time in 13 games with a sub-40 percent shooting mark. Duke, meanwhile, shot a season-best 64.3 percent (9-of-14) from distance to aid its effort.
NC State will kick off…
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