RALEIGH, N.C. – The N.C. State Wolfpack held off the Liberty Flames and claimed a 67-64 win at Reynolds Coliseum on Wednesday.
Carlee Schuhmacher led all scorers with 17 points, and scored the game’s first and last points to go along with seven rebounds to push the Wolfpack past the Big South Conference’s preseason favorite.
Dominique Wilson (13 points, 4rebounds, 4 assists), Krystal Barrett (11 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists), and Miah Spencer (11 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists) all helped to generate N.C. State’s 45-percent shooting performance.
“I was really comfortable the whole game,” Schuhmacher said.
“The past couple of games I haven’t been on and today I felt like today was my day. I felt like I was comfortable and I was kind of hot from the inside.”
Simone Brown (16 points, 7 rebounds) and Sadalia Eillis (16 points, 8 assists) led the Flames offense while Jasmine Gardner pulled down 10 rebounds as Liberty outrebounded the Wolfpack by a margin of 37-25.
“We knew this was going to be a battle,” Wolfpack head coach Wes Moore said.
“It was a big challenge. We got really killed on the boards in the first half, so that was the main point of emphasis. I think they had outscored us on second chance points and in the second half we actually outscored them 5-2 and ironically we won by three. That was the difference.”
The six-foot-one-inch Schuhmacher opened the scoring for N.C. State just 25 seconds in, with a midrange jumper that she used repeatedly while working against the Flames taller post players.
“Carlee Schumacher, great game for her,” Moore continued.
“Good to see her get a little bit of momentum and a little bit of confidence.”
Both teams set a high-paced tempo for a game that was tied 10 times with the lead change on four different occasions.
Liberty took an early 8-5 lead, but the Wolfpack earned shots inside and took advantage of free throw opportunities to go on a 9-3 run to assume the lead during the early part of the opening half.
Though finishing below their nationally top-ranked free throw percentage of 79 percent, the Wolfpack’s 18-for-26 (69 percent) effort at the free throw line was critical to their success.
As much as the Wolfpack worked to rebuild its lead, the Flames were there to diminish it, tying the game 20-20 with seven minutes remaining until halftime.
Schuhmacher extended the Wolfpack lead to three points, 25-22, but a few minutes later, Liberty tied the game again, using a similar strategy of working in the paint to earn free throw opportunities and finishing 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.
N.C. State utilized numerous scoring spurts to keep its advantage over Liberty and it seemed that Schuhmacher was a part of many of them.
In particular, she initiated a 5-2 run during the final minute that gave the Wolfpack a 30-27 lead at halftime.
Though trailing, the Flames’ strong work on the boards helped to keep them close.
Barrett took control early, scoring five points on her own, to push State’s lead to 35-27 to start the second half.
“We have a lot of energy and when we play up-tempo, that’s when we play the best,” Barrett said.
“That’s what coach has been stressing to us – to have a lot of energy and go out and play hard – spread the floor, run the floor, and attack.”
Faced with another looming deficit, Liberty wouldn’t roll over and again evened the score 37 apiece with 16 minutes to play.
The Flames kept riding their momentum and soon took the lead, but Wilson soon tied it again for the Wolfpack.
N.C. State then went on another that really pressed Liberty to drive to the hoop.
A mid-range jumper from Ashley Eli (4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists) capped off the cumulative contributions from Barrett and Spencer that gave N.C. State a 48-41 lead with eight minutes to play.
As comfortable as that lead looked, the Flames got hot as three-pointer sandwiched by two jumpers cut the Wolfpack lead down to one, 51-50, with six minutes to play.
Moore called a 30-second timeout and N.C. State responded as Schuhmacher and Wilson initiated a 6-2 run.
The score then fluctuated in two-minute increments like a fire that the Wolfpack couldn’t fully extinguish.
As the Wolfpack jumped ahead, the Flames eventually caught up each time.
Two consecutive missed threes from Len’Nique Brown (2 points, 1 assist) and Barrett made it interesting as Liberty’s Jamie Fisher-Davis (8 points) hit a three to pull the Flames within one.
Schuhmacher then pushed the Wolfpack lead back up to three points – 62-59 – with two minutes to play.
After calling a timeout to draw up a play, a missed pass to the Flames’ Mickayla Sanders (9 points, 4 rebounds) turned the ball back over to N.C. State.
The error cost them as Brown was fouled and she went to the line to add to the N.C. State lead which still sat at three points.
However, Brown missed both and Liberty had possession of the ball and soon called another timeout with 45 seconds remaining.
The ball went to Sanders and she scored over Schuhmacher in the low post, and pulled the Flames back to within one.
Brown was then fouled quickly afterwards.
She made up for her earlier misses, and dropped both free throw attempts to reestablish the Wolfpack’s lead – 64-61 – with 36 seconds left on the clock.
Liberty tied the score for a final time as Sanders dropped a three-pointer from up top and forced Moore to call a timeout with 21.7 seconds left on the clock.
The set play eventually got the ball into Schuhmacher’s hands and as she turned to attempt the jumper at the left elbow, she was fouled and got the and-one.
The ball dropped through the basket and her clean free throw pushed State’s lead back up to three with 5.1 seconds left.
Time ran out for the Flames who couldn’t tie the game once more, and gave N.C. State an important win that had many lessons for Moore to draw from and to pass along his team going forward.
“This team’s gotta’ just keep gettin’ better,” Moore said.
“Every day’s gonna’ be a battle. We’re gonna’ have to grind every night out. We can’t afford to be at this same spot a week from now, two weeks from now. We gotta’ keep getting’ better.”