NC State women's basketball defeated UNC 82-63 Sunday in the annual #Play4Kay Game.
The Wolfpack rose to No. 2 in the AP Top 25 Poll Monday following the win over the Tar Heels this weekend and a 66-47 road win over Wake Forest on Thursday. The Pack's placement at No. 2 ties its season high and marks the third week this year that it's climbed that high.
NC State is now 15-2 overall and 10-2 in ACC play.
Against UNC, sophomore wing Jakia Brown-Turner led all scorers with 25 points, marking a new career high. Brown-Turner went 10 of 16 from the field, including a 4-of-5 mark on three-point attempts. She also added six rebounds.
Senior forward Kayla Jones had a cold start but finished with the second-most points among all scorers. The 6-1 wing scored just two first-half points on 1-of-7 shooting but finished with 20 points for the game, leading all players with 18 second-half points. She also added eight rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal.
Junior center Elissa Cunane recorded her fifth double-double this season with 17 points and 14 rebounds. While she went just 5 of 15 from the field, she made all seven of her free-throw attempts and held North Carolina center Janelle Bailey to just 13 points. Bailey finished with four fouls and a team-worst minus-30 plus-minus rating.
Brown-Turner wins ACC Player of the Week
Brown-Turner was named ACC Player of the Week for her impressive performances in each of the Pack's two wins.
Before producing the career-high 25 points in the North Carolina win, Brown-Turner led all scorers with 21 points in the 19-point victory over Wake Forest.
In two games last week, she averaged 23 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. She also shot a combined 6 of 8 (75 percent) on three-point attempts and 63.3 percent from the field.
Brown-Turner is one of NC State's most consistent scoring threats. She has scored in double figures in all but one game this season and has scored 20 or more points in four conference contests.
What's next for the Pack?
The Wolfpack has two games remaining before the ACC Tournament, which is set to begin on Wednesday, March 3.
NC State will next face Pittsburgh in Reynolds Coliseum on Thursday at 4 p.m. on RSN.
The Pack will conclude the regular season with a road contest against Syracuse on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 12 p.m. on ACC Network.
Quote of the week
"That's what you got to do if you want to make a run in the ACC or NCAA Tournament, and you want to stick around, you've got to be hitting on all cylinders.
"Back at their place [against UNC in the first matchup], we struggled so much to hit shots, and we let that affect our energy. We hung our heads a little bit.
"I tried to use the analogy of baseball. If you go 0-for-4, you better be playing well out in the field defensively and not letting the offensive struggles impact your whole game. We've got to make sure we lock into that idea of, 'I can still help the team win if I can defend and rebound.'
"If you want to survive and advance, like we would say here at NC State, you're going to have a game or two where you don't shoot well. If you don't defend and rebound, you're going home. I keep trying to get that point across.
"I hope we're getting better. We better be getting better if we want to stick around in March." — NC State head coach Wes Moore on his team's improvement entering March
Weekly NET report
These are the sorted rankings used by the NCAA Tournament committee (with sorted being the key word). What is most important is the quadrant rankings below them. This is the most recent standing of where the Pack compares to the opponents on its schedule:
*Through games as of Feb. 21, 2021
3. South Carolina — W (road)
6. Louisville – W (road)
8. NC State
25. Georgia Tech – W (road)
26. Virginia Tech – W (home), L (road)
36. North Carolina – W (home), L (road)
44. Syracuse – TBD (road)
47. Wake Forest – W (home), W (road)
48. Florida State – PPD (road)
52. Notre Dame – PPD (home)
55. Duke – Canceled (home and road)
63. Clemson – W (home)
72. Miami – W (home)
79. Boston College – W (home), W (road)
116. Pittsburgh – TBD (home)
166. Elon – W (home)
226. Virginia – Canceled (home and road)
235. North Florida – W (home)
280. NC Central – W (home)
331. Coastal Carolina – W (home)
***Note: there are 353 teams in the NET.
Broken down by the quadrants the NCAA committee uses (quadrant four wins are disregarded by NCAA committee):
Quadrant 1 (Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Road 1-75): 5-2 with 1 remaining
Quadrant 2 (Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Road 76-135): 6-0 with 0 remaining
Quadrant 3 (Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Road 136-240): 0-0 with 1 remaining
Quadrant 4 (Home 161+, Neutral 201+, Road 241+): 4-0 with 0 remaining
Tweets of the week
Highlights of the week
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