Pitt Drops Road Game At #2 NC State On Thursday

Thursday, February 25

Raleigh, NC

4:00 PM

Pitt

5-12,3-11ACC

North Carolina State University

16-2,11-2ACC

Pittsburgh

NC State

Pitt Drops Road Game At #2 NC State On Thursday

2/25/2021 6:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

RALEIGH, NC – Missing a pair of key starters on Thursday afternoon, the Pitt women's basketball team (5-12, 3-11 ACC) fell on the road to #2 NC State by the score of 83-53. Sandrine Clesca had a career-game for the Panthers in the loss as she finished with 12 points to lead Pitt.

The Wolfpack opened up the game with the first three points of the game before Pitt was able to get on the board with a deep triple from Jayla Everett that knotted things up, 3-3. Clesca made a jumper to make it 5-5 early in the quarter, but the Wolfpack scored the next nine points to take the 14-5 lead into the first media timeout. Out of the media, NC State hit two more triples to take the 20-5 lead but Rita Igbokwe finished off a layup and Everett made a pair of free throws to make it 20-9 in favor of the Wolfpack late in the first. NC State made a pair of free throws in the final minute to take the 22-10 lead into the second quarter.

The Wolfpack opened the second quarter hot from behind the arc as they connected on three triples before the media timeout. Amber Brown scored four quick points for Pitt and Destiny Strother knocked down her first triple of the game to send it to the media timeout with NC State leading the Panthers 33-19. After the timeout, Emy Hayford made a triple and a layup to send Pitt to the locker room trailing the Wolfpack 41-26.

Everett nailed a jumper and Brown finished off a free throw early in the third quarter for Pitt to cut the NC State lead to 17, 46-29, but the Wolfpack responded with 20 straight points to take control of the game and sending the game to the fourth with the home team leading 71-34.

Clesca opened up the final quarter on fire for the Panthers as she drained a pair of triples and a layup before Taisha Exanor made her first three and Liatu King finished off a layup and free throw to force the NC State timeout with Pitt trailing 76-50. The Wolfpack closed out the game with their 16^th triple of the night to secure the 83-53 victory.

Off the bench, King finished her night with eight points, three rebounds and a steal while Hayford had a strong game in her second straight start, finishing with seven points, four rebounds and two assists. Everett and Brown each finished with seven points while Strother had six points on a pair of triples.

As a team, the Panthers shot 39.6% from the floor while connecting on seven triples. The Wolfpack were on fire all night long as they shot 45.9% from the floor overall and 61.5% from behind the arc (16-for-26). The Wolfpack outrebounded Pitt 35-32 while also outscoring Pitt 31-4 in points off of turnovers.

All five NC State starters finished in double figures led by Raina Perez and Jakia Brown-Turner who netted 14 points each. Elissa Cunane finished with 13 points and a team-high eight boards in the win.

PITT NOTES
Team

With the loss, Pitt is now 2-8 all-time against NC State including a 1-4 mark in games played in Raleigh. The Wolfpack have won six straight in the series.

Sandrine Clesca

Clesca finished off the best game of her career with 12 points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist across 33 minutes of work.
She earned her first career start at point guard and produced a career-high 12 points on 5-for-9 from the floor and 2-for-3 from behind the arc.
The 33 minutes played and the two steals are both career-highs for the freshman.

NEXT UP

The Panthers will close out their regular season on the road Sunday as they head to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech. Sunday's tip is set for 2:00 pm and the game will air on ACC Network.

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