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Last Second Shot Thwarts Virginia's Comeback and Gives NC State the Win
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Jan. 12, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. – NC State completed a three-game home winning streakwith a clutch shot over Virginia to win the game, 50-49.
Redshirt-junior Terah James connected on a 15-foot jumper with twoseconds remaining to thwart the Virginia comeback in the second half.The win puts the Cavaliers at 0-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, itsworst start in school history.
“This is the worst year I have ever had,” said Virginia head coachDebbie Ryan. “We were here and played, but our shots just didn’t fall.We keep putting ourselves in a position to win, but we are notfinishing.”
“This was a great, hard-fought ACC victory,” said NC State head coachKay Yow. “To get an ACC win is tough and we’ll take it. We really hada great defensive effort today and we did a great job at stoppingpenetration and getting out on shooters.”
Despite Virginia’s leading scorer, sophomore Brandi Teamer, earning herthird double-double this season, and sophomore La Tonya Blue hitting twofree throws to put the Cavaliers ahead, Virginia left Reynolds Coliseumwith its fourth-straight ACC loss. Teamer finished with 16 points and13 rebounds, including eight offensive caroms. Blue tallied 14 pointsand five rebounds, which included nine points in the second-half. Inthe final five minutes of the half the score toggled between both teamshaving a one-point advantage. In fact, with 11 seconds left, the scoremoved to the favor of Virginia after Blue hit two free throws. After atimeout, NC State pushed the ball the full length of the court, a dutyperformed by sophomore Kendra Bell, and redshirt-junior Kaayla Chonesset a screen to open up James. James dribbled in on the right wing andtook the jump shot to provide the victory.
“Coach Yow asked if I wanted the ball during the last timeout,” said NCState’s Terah James. “Kaayla (Chones) set a great screen and I came offof it. I shot the ball with confidence and it went in.”
The Wolfpack held the upper hand for the entire first half, which washighlighted by a 13-point lead with 8:30 remaining. Virginia cut thelead down to six heading into the break. In fact, Virginia seemed tohave momentum on its side going into half time. The Cavaliers dominatedthe offensive boards as they collected 11, which was one more than thePack’s defensive rebound total of 10. All in all, Virginia grabbed 19offensive rebounds, which led to 17 second-chance points. Additionally,Virginia had 24 points from bench help, while the Pack had 13.
Unfortunately, an overall poor shooting performance could not hold offthe offensive push from NC State. Virginia shot just 29.3 percent forthe game, while NC State connected 41.7 percent of the time. However,NC State shot just 40 percent from the charity stripe, shooting 6-15,points that could have provided insurance for the victory. For NCState, Chones led all scorers with 10 and had seven rebounds, includingfour offensive. James finished with eight points, three rebounds andthree assists and was 2-5 from the arc.
“I thought as a team that, having the lead then falling behind, wereally responded well and held together,” said Yow. “We didn’t fallapart, but instead hung together and persevered.”
NC State improved to 7-8 and 2-2 in the ACC, while Virginia dropped to5-9 and 0-4 in the ACC. The Wolfpack takes a break before hostingClemson on Monday, Jan. 20, 7 p.m. The game will be on FOX Sports Net.Virginia hosts Georgia Tech on Thursday, Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m.