CINCINNATI, Ohio – NC State fell behind late in the first half, clawed back to within one point midway through the second stanza, but could not overcome a large free throw discrepancy in a 76-69 loss at Xavier in non-conference women’s basketball action Sunday afternoon at Cintas Center.
Khadijah Whittington led NC State (11-5) with 16 points and 14 rebounds, her second straight double-double and 12th of her career.
Meanwhile, freshman Chanita Jordan had season-highs with 12 points and eight rebounds, while classmate Amber White had 10 points.
Michele Milled of Xavier (11-4) led all scorers with 26 points (8-13 FG) and nine rebounds. Freshman sensation Amber Harris added 14 points, 12 in the second half, before fouling out in the waning seconds of the game. Suntana Granderson and Joei Clyburn added 13 and 11 points respectively.
A 12-point deficit faced NC State heading into the second half. However, a 3-pointer by Keisha Brown and a layup by Whittington brought the Pack right back into the game, down only seven, 37-30 in the opening minute of the half.
The Pack continued to bring itself back as White and Jordan, two first-year players from the Philadelphia, Pa., area, combined for 10 straight points in a stretch that made it 49-48 Xavier with 9:58 left.
Harris, who was selected by some publications as the top-rated freshman in the country, was relatively quite until she canned a pair of three-pointers to give Xavier a 57-50 lead with 8:21 to go.
White later converted a pair from the charity stripe to bring NC State to within three, 62-59, with 5:45 left, but a layups by Miller and Deanna Mason put the home teams lead back to 66-59. NC State never got closer than three points on two more from the line by Nikitta Gartrell with 3:40 remaining.
A Harris bucket and six straight from the free throw line gave Xavier a 74-63 lead with 1:44 to go.Xavier made 29 of its 44 attempts from the free throw line as the Musketeers made more than NC State attempted in the game. The Pack was 15-of-21 from the line.
The Musketeers rolled to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes on the strength of seven straight points by Clyburn. NC State then played to its strengths, pounding the ball inside, which resulted in an 8-2 run for the Pack. Consecutive buckets by Whittington and a short jumper by Brown made it 13-10 in favor of Xavier with 13:52 to go.
A buzzer-beating jumper at the top of the key by White moments later made it 13-12, but that was the closest the visitors would get in the first half.
A Miller jumper capped a 6-0 run and it was 19-12 Xavier with 6:58 to go. It was still a two-possession game after NC State’s Sharnice Beal canned a 15-foot jumper to make it 31-25, but six straight points by the Musketeers to close the half gave them a 37-25 lead at the break.
Xavier converted 13-of-16 attempts from the line in the first half, while NC State missed its only two shots at the stripe.Miller and Clyburn each tossed in 11 points in the opening 20 minutes for Xavier. Four players had four points apiece in the first half for the Pack.
PACK POINTS
First meeting between the two clubs…Sasha Reaves made he third start of the year and 12th in her 92 career games played…Reaves replaced Dickens, who had 19 straight starts dating back to last season…NC State had beaten Temple and Saint Joseph’s out of the Atlantic 10 Conference earlier in the season…The Pack held a slight 49-47 advantage in rebounds…and held a 37-14 lead in bench points.
Courtesy: NC State
