It was a sluggish beginning to the regular season for the NC State women, but they put that behind them with a torrid-shooting second half that saw them ultimately roll East Tennessee State without any trouble.
ETSU led by six points a little past the midway point of the second quarter, but State put together a 9-2 run over the next two minutes as it finally got the offense going, and took a three-point advantage into the break.
NC State built on that finish and shot over 50% in each of the last two quarters. Both Zoe Brooks and Aziaha James were excellent to lead the charge in the second half, and Brooks finished with a game-high 21 points on 8-14 shooting. James scored 17 on 7-14 shooting. Saniya Rivers and Madison Hayes added 11 apiece.
The Wolfpack owned the interior, shooting over 57% on twos while also grabbing well over half of its missed shots. ETSU was limited to just 41.9% shooting on twos. More than half of ETSU’s shots came from three, which is one way to go about trying to pull off a big upset, though the Buccaneers didn’t hit nearly enough of those to make the game interesting down the stretch.
NC State will have to tidy a few things up in a hurry, as South Carolina looms on Sunday.