NC State catches fire in 4th quarter to bury Duke, 77-62

When this NC State team flips a switch, it is a sight to behold. The Wolfpack turned what had been a tight game into a laugher down the stretch thanks to a 31-point fourth quarter performance that was probably its best of the season.

Duke stood helpless as NC State shot 11-12 from the field, including 3-3 from beyond the arc, over the final 10 minutes.

State outscored Duke 17-5 over the last four minutes, using back-to-back-to-back threes from Kai Crutchfield, Raina Perez, and Jakia Brown-Turner to push a three-point lead to 12 in a matter of about 90 seconds.

The Pack really only played poorly for one stretch—most of the second quarter—which allowed Duke a modest halftime lead, but as we’ve seen frequently this season, State came out of the break playing well.

As NC State was turning this one around, Elissa Cunane suffered what looked like a rather scary injury about halfway through the third quarter as she got tangled up with a Blue Devils player and hit the floor hard. (And somehow this ended up a foul on both players, which is hysterical, but whatever.) Fortunately, Cunane was able to return later on.

She had a fine afternoon, scoring 15 points on 6-8 shooting, but it was Brown-Turner’s day: JBT scored 19 on 9-11 shooting to pace the offense. All five Wolfpack starters scored in double figures, and Kayla Jones snagged 11 rebounds to finish with a double double.

By the end, the WOLF-PACK chants in Cameron were loud and clear.

That’s a beautiful thing right there.