No. 17 Georgia upsets No. 2 NC State in OT
No. 17 Georgia 82, No. 2 North Carolina St. 80 (OT): Coach Joni Taylor watched her visiting Georgia team respond without panic or jitters when its big lead vanished in front of a hostile crowd.
In fact, the Bulldogs couldn’t have been much tougher in critical moments Thursday night, from hitting a game-extending huge shot to coming up with a winning defensive stand to beat North Carolina State in overtime.
“It felt like March, right?” Taylor said. “That felt like March Madness out there. So what we’ve been telling our team is this is the schedule that we’re prepared to play. This is what we’re ready for.
“What I hope we have learned from it is that we have a chance to be really good.”
The Bulldogs (9-1) sure looked that way Thursday night, too.
There was Sarah Ashlee Barker (16 points) hitting a long, leaning 3-pointer over Kai Crutchfield with 0.4 seconds left in regulation on an inbounds play that didn’t go according to plan but worked all the same.
There was the 6-foot-4 Jenna Staiti going for 21 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks in a post matchup with Elissa Cunane – and then coming up with the critical defensive stop against the preseason Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year in the final seconds of OT.
Cunane had 18 of her 20 points in the second half for the Wolfpack after spending most of the first half on the
bench with two quick fouls. Diamond Johnson added 17 points for the Wolfpack, who rallied from down 40-28 at halftime but couldn’t hold onto a fourpoint lead in the final minute of regulation.
No. 6 Louisville 82, Eastern Kentucky 38: Kianna Smith made five 3pointers for a career-high 22 points, Hailey Van Lith added 13 points and host Louisville shot 51% to cruise past Eastern Kentucky for its ninth consecutive victory.
The Cardinals (9-1) showed no letdown from Sunday’s tense win over No. 19 Kentucky, running off 11 unanswered
points for a 13-3 lead midway through the
first quarter that steadily grew behind hot shooting. Their bench helped spark 11-of-16 shooting in the second for a 51-28 halftime cushion and the lead reached 73-33 early in the fourth.
Emma Hacker scored 10 points for the Colonels (4-6), who were coming off a 66-43 rout of Morehead State on Wednesday night. EKU made 1 of 7 shots in the third quarter for five points and finished shooting 26% overall.
Smith made 8 of 11 shots including 5 of 7 from long range to top her previous high of 21 points, set twice last season. Van Lith made 6 of 12 while Emily Engstler shot 5 of 10 for 11 points. Freshman Payton Verhulst added 12 points.