Dominant 2nd half propels NC State women’s hoops to 88-44 win over Pittsburgh

NC State came out of the halftime break and utterly demolished a bad Pittsburgh team—the Wolfpack scored the first 22 points of the third quarter and out-scored Pitt 30-4 in the period. What was an eight-point game at the break was a laugher just a handful of minutes into the second half.

Pitt is one of the worst shooting teams in the country—hence its 3-15 record—and figured to be due for an extended drought or two. All the droughts seemed to happen at once to the Panthers, who managed only 14 points during the second half.

The blowout allowed Wes Moore to substitute liberally, and neither Ace Konig nor Elissa Cunane played in the fourth quarter. Twelve Wolfpack players saw action, and 10 of them score. Jakia Brown-Turner led the Pack with 13 points on 5-12 shooting, while Cunane scored 12 points in just 18 minutes.

The Panthers held up okay in the first half thanks to some above-average shooting, though the Wolfpack did establish a double-digit lead for a short time in the second quarter. I don’t think Wes Moore was terribly thrilled about the modest halftime lead, and his team certainly came out more focused after the break.

State started hitting more perimeter shots as its defense closed around Pitt like a vise, and it took less than five minutes for the lead to increase from eight to 21. At that point, the game was very much over—Pitt needed nearly eight minutes to score its first basket of the second half, and by that point, its deficit was 30. It doesn’t get much more brutal than that.