With the pall of Zoe Brooks’ injury lingering over the team, NC State pulled together without her and put together a dominant fourth quarter to down Liberty on Wednesday night. You would not guess it based on the final score, but Liberty was very much in this game, even into the last quarter.
But Liberty also did not score a point over the last eight minutes, which is not a recommended way to finish a game.
NC State did an excellent job on the offensive boards, led by Annsley Trivette, who had seven
of those by herself, which helped the Pack’s somewhat listless offense. The defensive rebounding needs to be better and the effort in general was poor at times, but Liberty couldn’t find a hot hand in this one, and the Flames turned the ball over a bunch.
It was an odd game in that both teams shot under 50% at the free throw line: Liberty was 1-6, State was 10-24. Not a pretty sight.
Khamil Pierre led State with 19 points as the guards mostly struggled with Brooks out. Desiree Wooten played all 40 minutes but was just 3-10 from the field, and on a lot of nights, that’s going to be a tough stat line for the team to overcome.
NC State returns to the floor against Seton Hall on Sunday.
