NC State doubles up Charlotte, 96-48

Another game, another easy win for NC State, which has won two straight by 48 points and beaten all of its opponents by at least 34. A Charlotte team that won 22 games last season was the victim this time.

The 49ers played NC State even for the first six minutes of the game, but after Charlotte knotted the score a 13 with four to go in the first quarter, the Wolfpack ignited a 20-0 run that took barely seven minutes. The Pack knocked down 4-6 three point attempts during that span as Charlotte went 0-8 from the field.

Charlotte kept fighting despite the mortal wound, and played the Pack even in the third quarter, but then State hit the gas once more, outscoring the 49ers 30-8 over the final 10 minutes.

Jakia Brown-Turner shook out of her early-season funk a bit—maybe she just needed to get that 1,000-point milestone out of the way and off her shoulders. She was 6-8 from the field and finished with 13 points—one of five State scorers in double figures.

Jada Boyd and Madison Hayes each scored 15—that’s a career-high for Hayes—with efficient shooting efforts.

State had a clear advantage in post-ups that it exploited—something Charlotte couldn’t find a consistent answer for despite switching up its defensive looks. The Wolfpack shot 56% inside the arc, which hops well above 60% if you take out Mimi Collins’ 4-11 effort.

The Wolfpack also made 11 of 19 three-point attempts. There was not a lot of struggle out there on the NC State side.

Charlotte, meanwhile, struggled from everywhere, and NC State snagged 40 out of a possible 44 defensive rebounds. (NC State has been elite on the defensive glass in the early-going.) Just let the 49ers suffocate under that mountain of bricks.

Now the fun really begins. The trip to UConn is up next, and a little revenge sure sounds good to me.