Written by Bob Sutton, from the Associated Press.

Raleigh, N.C. — RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The No. 6 North Carolina State women won an 86-85 overtime game against Georgia Tech on Sunday — and coach Wes Moore believes the key to victory might have been a Journey concert he attended the night before.

Moore stated, “Do not cease to believe.”

The Wolfpack utilized that strategy in addition to Aziaha James’ 30 points and a crucial defensive play in the final seconds.

In overtime, N.C. State successfully made their first five shots. However, despite being down by six points, Kara Dunn nearly led a comeback for Georgia Tech.

Dunn made a 3-point shot to tie the game and then, with the shot clock running out, made a lucky shot from near the middle of the court to bring the score to 86-85 with only 46.7 seconds left in overtime.

After getting the ball back, the Yellow Jackets took the final shot, but Tonie Morgan’s attempt from the baseline missed.

According to N.C. State guard Saniya Rivers, this demonstrates our ability to overcome challenges. We proved our strength and resilience by remaining mentally tough, even when facing difficult shots from the opposing team.

N.C. State’s River Baldwin scored 16 points and Madison Hayes contributed 15 points in their team’s victory with a record of 23-3 and a conference score of 11-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Dunn scored 31 points, making 11 out of 15 shots. Morgan contributed 23 points and made several crucial plays in the fourth quarter, while also recording 11 assists. Kayla Blackshear added 16 points for Georgia Tech (15-12, 6-9), who hoped to achieve consecutive wins for the first time since their three-game winning streak in January.

“I am extremely proud of them, although it was a challenging task to complete,” stated Nell Fortner, the coach of Georgia Tech. “It may be difficult to accept, but I am also immensely proud of our players. They rose to the occasion and performed admirably in this setting.”

Georgia Tech lost to all seven ranked opponents they faced. They were ahead 73-70 with under 2 and a half minutes remaining in the game, thanks to seven consecutive points scored by Morgan for her team.

Baldwin evened the score with a shot from the lane with 45.8 seconds remaining. Following a missed shot by Georgia Tech, N.C. State played for a chance at the last shot. Rivers, who had only made one out of nine attempts, scored three points and was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound with 4.2 seconds left.

At 0.4 seconds remaining, Dunn successfully made a difficult 3-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Moore pondered, “Is this fate?” She continued, “For some reason, it just fell into place during overtime.”

The Wolfpack grabbed 13 offensive rebounds.

“We were unable to prevent them from scoring,” Fortner stated. “We simply didn’t have enough defense.”

N.C. State’s previous game against No. 16 Notre Dame saw them limit the opposition to a mere 43 points, but they struggled in the first seven minutes of Sunday’s game, allowing 18 points. The Yellow Jackets were successful in seven of their first nine 3-point attempts, giving them a 41-33 lead, before N.C. State closed the half with a 9-point run, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by James. James had an impressive performance in the first half, scoring 22 points on 8 out of 10 shots.

Mimi Collins, who was unable to play in Thursday’s win against Notre Dame due to a leg injury, returned to the starting lineup and scored nine points.

BIG PICTURE

Georgia Tech’s chances for an upset seemed promising throughout the day, but their accuracy from beyond the arc declined after a strong beginning. Except for Dunn’s desperate attempts, they only managed to make two out of their last 12 3-pointers.

N.C. State has faced a tough stretch of games against ranked teams and was at risk of losing to an unranked ACC opponent. However, their second overtime win at home in conference play has kept them in the running in the competitive ACC.

UP NEXT

Georgia Tech will be hosting the No. 18 ranked team, Louisville, on Thursday evening.

The N.C. State team will be playing against North Carolina on Thursday evening.

___

Sign up to receive notifications and updates on the AP Top 25 basketball rankings throughout the season.

___

The AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll and Women’s College Basketball Hub can be found on AP News.

Source: wralsportsfan.com