NC State women’s basketball dominates Florida State, advances to ACC title game

GREENSBORO, N.C. — After Friday’s slugfest against Duke, it was a completely different story for NC State women’s basketball against Florida State on Saturday in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

The Wolfpack (27-5,13-5 ACC) put forth a convincing wire-to-wire performance, dominating the Seminoles (23-10,12-6 ACC) for a 69-43 win to advance to the team’s fourth ACC championship game in the last five seasons.

“I’m just really proud of our players and their performance today,” said head coach Wes Moore. “Yesterday I thought we played really good defense in the fourth quarter, today I thought we played really good defense from the tip all the way to the end.”

Both teams entered Saturday on completely different trajectories. NC State struggled to beat the 7-seed Duke in a game where points were hard to come by and had not been playing its best basketball recently. On the other hand, FSU had won six of its last seven, including a convincing win over Syracuse the day prior, a team that took the Pack to overtime in Raleigh not long ago.

Yet the Wolfpack looked like the team playing its best basketball, putting on a defensive clinic and holding the Noles to just 43 points, nearly 40 points under its average. Offensively, junior guard Aziaha James led the Pack in scoring with 23 points along with four assists, while graduate forward Mimi Collins had a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

James has led the Wolfpack in scoring in both of its postseason games, and whenever the team needs a bucket, it looks to her. The Seminoles cut the Pack’s 15-point halftime lead to nine, but James then went on a 6-0 run to regain momentum. In the second quarter, when the Wolfpack failed to score in the first four minutes, the All-ACC guard got things going with two free throws and went on to score and assist on 13 of the Pack’s 15 points in the quarter. 

After averaging just 6.8 points per game last season and mainly coming off the bench, James turned into NC State’s leading scorer this year at nearly 16 points per game. The work she put in the offseason has set her up for success in the postseason.   

“[James] worked hard in the summer, her and [junior guard] Saniya [Rivers] both spent a lot of time in the gym and tried to improve certain aspects of their game,” Moore said. “I think with opportunity, you gain confidence. They were able to get out there and have some big games earlier in the year, and that carries over.”

But James wasn’t the only Wolfpack player who stood out offensively. The first quarter was the Collins show, scoring 11 of the Pack’s 20 points in the first 10 minutes and helping her team jump out to a 20-11 lead.

Collins’ points came from a variety of inside looks, turnaround jumpers and even a 3-pointer, showing off her versatility with a favorable matchup.

“Just understanding my strengths, understanding that I am 6’2” but also I like to use my strengths,” Collins said. “I’m just grateful and blessed to be this versatile, to be able to use my shot, but also to be able to go inside and post up people who are smaller than me.

From the jump, the Wolfpack made it a point of emphasis to punish the Seminoles in the paint, with the first three plays of the game being post-touches for graduate center River Baldwin. 

Baldwin missed her first two attempts but muscled her way to an and-1 on the third possession, setting the tone for the rest of the game.  NC State got whatever it wanted in the paint, scoring 42 points in the paint — one less point than Florida State had as a team. 

The Wolfpack kept it up in the second quarter, outscoring the Noles 15-9 to take a 35-20 lead into halftime. In the third quarter, the Pack outscored FSU an identical 15-9 to take a 50-29 advantage heading into the final frame.

NC State didn’t let up at the end, scoring 19 points in the fourth to cruise to a 26-point victory, its third-largest win over a conference opponent this season.

While James and Collins were putting forth phenomenal individual performances, the Pack bullied the Seminoles on the boards. NC State pulled down 58 rebounds compared to Florida State’s 32, with three players on the Pack recording 10 or more rebounds.

“I was around Pat Summit a lot early in my career and she used to say ‘offense sells tickets, defense wins games and rebounding wins championships,’” Moore said. “This says a lot about the effort, just going out and competing on the boards and finding a way to get it done.”

The Wolfpack now finds itself in a familiar spot: playing for an ACC Championship. This year, the red-and-white will face Notre Dame, the ACC’s 4-seed and the hottest team in the conference, having won seven straight games.

The last time the Fighting Irish lost? On Feb. 15, in South Bend, Indiana, to none other than NC State, who held the Irish to a season-low 43 points.

It was Notre Dame who knocked NC State out of the tournament last season, ending the Pack’s streak of three-straight championships. Now, the Pack has an opportunity to reclaim its crown.

“I love winning, all my life I played at a very high level and I just really take pride in winning,” said freshman guard Zoe Brooks. “I’m excited to try to win a ring tomorrow.”

Tip-off from the Greensboro Coliseum for Championship Sunday is at 1 p.m.