The 13th-ranked NC State women's basketball team (9-0) earned an impressive 66-59 victory over the ninth-ranked Maryland Terrapins (7-2) Thursday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Kay Yow Court inside Valvano Arena at Reynolds Coliseum.

The Wolfpack benefited from a balanced scoring attack that featured three players scoring 11-plus points and two recording double-doubles. Junior guard Kai Crutchfield led all players with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range. Elissa Cunane (16 points) and Kayla Jones (11) also had strong offensive outings.

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Cunane recorded her third straight double-double with a game-high 15 rebounds and Jones grabbed 14 of her own for a new career high. Together, Cunane and Jones combined to out-rebound the entire Maryland team by a count of 29-27. As a team, the Wolfpack out-rebounded the Terrapins 51-27 and scored 16 second-chance points on 19 offensive rebounds.

NC State entered the contest with the eighth best rebounding margin (plus-12.8 per game) in the nation, and Thursday's game marked the fifth time this season that the Wolfpack has collected 50 or more rebounds.

The Wolfpack shot 26-of-56 (.464) from the field and was a very efficient 8-of-19 (.421) from three-point range. NC State shot 50 percent or higher from the field in three of the game's four quarters.

Maryland entered Thursday's game ranked sixth nationally in scoring offense (86.3 points per game), but the stifling Wolfpack defense held the Terrapins to a mere 59 points, 27 points off their season average. Taylor Miksell led the visitors with 13 points and Blair Watson (12 points) and Ashley Owusu (10) also scored in double figures. Owusu led all players with nine assists.

NC State looked up at a 30-28 deficit heading into the halftime break, but outscored Maryland 18-9 during the third quarter. When Cunane collected an offensive rebound and scored a put-back basket to make it 34-32 in favor of NC State with 8:03 remaining in the third quarter, the Wolfpack would never look back and led the rest of the way. T

he Wolfpack will take a break from competition for NC State's finals week. The team returns to action at home Dec. 15 against Elon on the ACC Network.

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