That was fun.
Saniya Rivers got off to a fast start and took the Wolfpack offense with her, as NC State set a season-high in single quarter scoring with 28 in the first (and again in the third) on the way to routing Boston College.
The Pack never trailed, led 14-4 after five minutes, and continued pouring it on an ice cold Boston College team from there. State led 28-9 after the first quarter, 50-27 at the break, and just kept on rolling in the third quarter. The offense was unstoppable until State started to take its foot off the gas in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand.
Rivers at the rest of State’s guards got to the rim at will, resulting in 58% shooting inside the arc and a whole lot of free throw attempts. The passing was consistently excellent, and Tilda Trygger was an early beneficiary, scoring some easy buckets of nice assists in the first quarter. She hit double figures for the first time in her career.
Five other Pack players scored in double-digits, led by Rivers’ 23—she was 8-11 from the floor and also grabbed 11 boards. Aziaha James scored 17, Madison Hayes had 13, Devyn Quigley added 11, and Zoe Brooks had 11 points and 11 boards. Rivers, James, and Brooks each had at least four assists.
It was a brutal day all around for BC, which made barely a quarter of its two-point shots and finished 17-74 from the floor. The Eagles have struggled badly to score in league play and also feature the ACC’s worst interior defense, which certainly tracks.
The only bad news for NC State today was the announcement that forward Caitlin Weimar will miss the rest of the season, though I don’t think that comes as a surprise to anyone. Wes Moore said after the game that Weimar has returned home to recover and is taking this semester off, so she’s not currently with the team. All the best to her as she continues to get better, and hopefully we’ll see her back in Raleigh next season.
NC State is 3-0 in league play following this beatdown and heads west this week for a couple important road games at Cal and Stanford.