No. 6 NC State women’s basketball tops Georgia Tech in OT. Four takeaways from the win

N.C. State head coach Wes Moore saw Journey on Saturday night. He left the post-game press conference singing, “Don’t stop believing” after his team pulled off an overtime win less than 24 hours later.

The No. 6 Wolfpack beat Georgia Tech, 86-85 in overtime, Sunday at Reynolds Coliseum. It trailed by as many as eight points, the largest deficit in ACC play.

N.C. State (23-3, 11-3 ACC) didn’t have a great defensive day at all, giving up the most points this season, including 22 in the first quarter.

Moore told the team before the second quarter that Georgia Tech (15-12, 6-9 ACC) was on pace to score 88. The Wolfpack strives to hold teams to 60 points or fewer, as it emphatically did in Thursday night’s 59-43 win at No. 16 Notre Dame.

“All week long, all we heard was what a great defensive job we did against Notre Dame,” Moore said. “Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the bug. Today we were that bug.”

Despite the rough outing, N.C. State pulled off the win after a tough fourth quarter and overtime period, scoring a combined 31 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. That’s the mark of a championship team.

Saniya Rivers went 1 of 8 in the first three quarters of play for five points but came up big at the end. She scored a layup and added a free throw giving N.C. State a 76-73 lead with nine seconds to play in regulation.

Georgia Tech’s Kara Dunn forced overtime with a heave from the logo, despite Rivers’ defensive presence.

But Rivers came up big in overtime, contributing two points while dishing out a pair of assists, one that led to James’ layup in transition. Rivers ended with 10 points.

“When Dunn hit the 3 to put it in overtime with somebody all in her, you start to wonder, ‘Man, is this meant to be?’” Moore said. “I’m proud of the fact that they hung in there.”

The Wolfpack forced GT to take a highly-contested shot on its final possession and came away with the rebound.

Aziaha James led the Wolfpack with 30 points, including 22 in the first half, on 11-20 shooting. She added a season-high three steals. Madison Hayes contributed her fifth double-double of the season, scoring 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Baldwin added 16 points — scoring four points in overtime — one basket coming after a spin move to tie the game at 73.

N.C. State has won 12 straight home contests over unranked opponents. Since losing 72-61 at home on Feb. 8 to No. 12 Virginia Tech, the Wolfpack has reeled off three consecutive wins overall.

“That’s March Madness for you right there. That’s a tough game. You’ve got to play until the buzzer,” Rivers said. “You can see that anybody could have won that game that we’re very fortunate to win.”

Here are four takeaways from the victory.

GT dominates offensively

N.C. State’s defense shut down Notre Dame as the Irish recorded just five assists on 18 field goals last week and 18-67 (.269) shooting. On Sunday, it struggled to find similar success against Georgia Tech, which started with seven straight makes.

The Yellow Jackets went into the locker room with 10 assists on 17 made shots, as well, about six their season average of 15.8 assists per game.

That success led to Georgia Tech’s impressive 17-27 (.630) field goal shooting and 7-10 3-point efficiency (.700). It was the first time a Wolfpack opponent shot 60% or better in a half since its loss at Virginia Tech (.625) on Feb. 19, 2023.

GT’s offense continued its impressive performance in the second half. It added seven assists in the third quarter and made 8 of 16 (.500) shots from the field.

The Yellow Jackets ended the game hitting 33-64 (.516) overall, with 18 assists, and forced the Wolfpack to use its zone defense in hopes of stopping Tonie Morgan. Morgan added 23 points and 11 assists. She “gave us fits,” Moore said.

Georgia Tech also made 11 buckets on 23 attempts (.478) from the perimeter, the highest opponent 3-point percentage allowed this season.

“You gotta tip your hat to Georgia Tech,” Moore said. “I mean, they hit shots from everywhere.”

“I think that just shows the battle that every game in ACC is,” Baldwin added. “When you carry yourself like we do, everybody’s gonna come with their best every night, so you’ve just got to be ready for that.”

Wolfpack pleased with rebounding effort

Moore said last week the team needed to focus on rebounding.

“Great teams rebound,” Moore said after the team’s loss to Virginia Tech. “We’ve just got to try to realize how hard you have to play and how you have to compete if you want to be at the top of ACC.”

N.C. State opponents out-rebounded the Wolfpack in three of its last four games, but that trend didn’t continue against Georgia Tech. It’s a good thing, too.

With Tech’s hot shooting, the Pack needed every opportunity it could create. It pulled down 13 offensive rebounds and scored 15 second-chance points. Additionally, N.C. State took six more shot attempts than the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech, by comparison, grabbed five offensive rebounds and scored four points on put-backs.

“That was the ballgame,” Moore said. “Hopefully that point will be drilled in their heads; that we got to do that if we’re going to be be a great team.”

NC State lacked early energy

The Wolfpack came into the game after its best defensive performance in ACC play this season, but the team looked soft — on both ends of the floor — during multiple stretches.

James was called for a charge with 6:57 remaining in the game. The officials waived off her layup. Rivers was tabbed with two turnovers, both coming in the fourth quarter, after the Yellow Jackets swatted away her passes.

On the defensive end, it gave up wide open shots and couldn’t slow down Tech’s shifty guards. Dunn scored an open 3 in the first half to put the Yellow Jackets up six. She added another corner triple, knocking the shot over Rivers.

“At Notre Dame, we played our best defensive game. We did what we had to do to shut them down,” Rivers said. “We just didn’t give the same energy urgency on defense today, but we pulled it through, thankfully.”

Mimi Collins returns

Mimi Collins missed the last portion of N.C. State’s 83-47 win at Pitt on Feb. 11 and completely missed the Notre Dame contest. She returned to the lineup on Sunday.

Baldwin played 37 minutes against the Irish on Thursday. Moore often rotates Collins from the forward to the center position.

Collins finished with nine points, five rebounds and drew four fouls. She only shot 3 of 8 and, at times, couldn’t contain GT’s guards, but the team was glad to have her back nonetheless.

“Mimi brings so much to the table and a lot of it is just passion and hustle,” Baldwin said. “To have that fire to keep us going; it was really good to have her back.”