In a rematch of last seasons first round NCAA Tournament game, the #14 North Carolina State Wolfpack used a well balanced scoring attack on Tuesday morning putting nine players on the scoresheet in defeating the Maine Black Bears 62-34 at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina.
NC State (4-0) scored the first eight points of the game as Maine missed their first seven shots and turned the ball over five times in the opening quarter as the Wolfpack led 12-4. It was more of the same in the second quarter as the visiting Black Bears only went 4-25 from the field in the opening half and trailed by 21 at the break. Two of the leading scorers for Maine in Blanca Millan and Dor Saar shot a combined 2-13 with five points over the opening 20 minutes.
Maine (1-3) started out better in the third quarter hitting three of their first five shots but couldn’t slow down NC State and a pair of three-pointers from Aislinn Konig pushed the lead to 25. The hosts later pushed it to their largest lead of 34 in the fourth quarter in cruising to their fourth straight win to open the season.
Saar led the Black Bears with 10 points in the loss while Millan had eight. The two ended the day though only 8-31 combined shooting, 2-16 from the three point arc. Saar added four rebounds and two assists, while Millan had 10 rebounds. Overall Maine was 14-57 (24.6%) from the floor, 6-30 (20%) from three, and only attempted one free throw which they missed. Elissa Cunane had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the Wolfpack win. Aislinn Konig had nine points, while Kai Crutchfield and Jada Boyd both had eight points with Boyd adding 16 rebounds and three assists. NC State shot 38% overall and 13-15 (86.7%) from the foul line, and also outrebounded Maine 50-31.
Maine has now lost three straight games for the first time since last December when they lost four consecutive to NC State, Northeastern, Fordham, and Tennessee-Chattanooga. The Black Bears try to snap the losing streak when they host Navy on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Portland Expo.
