No. 2 NC State takes down No. 6 Indiana for key road win

The No. 2 NC State Wolfpack didn’t blowout a team for the first time in a while, but picked up their second ranked win of the season on Thursday night by defeating the No. 6 Indiana Hoosiers 66-58 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind.

An Aleksa Gulbe three with 3:41 to play cut the Wolfpack’s lead to one, but Kayla Jones (17 points, 11 rebounds) responded with a 5-0 individual run after which NC State led by at least five.

Diamond Johnson led the Wolfpack (7-1, 0-0 ACC) with 19 points to go along with her six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Raina Perez added 13 points, five boards and three helpers and preseason ACC Player of the Year Elissa Cunane had 11 points and seven boards.

Mackenzie Holmes posted 24 points in defeat, while Grace Berger added 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Hoosiers (5-2, 0-0 Big Ten). Ali Patberg joined Holmes and Berger in double figures with 10 points, five boards and three helpers.

It was a tight fourth quarter before NC State pulled away a bit in the final 3:41. The Wolfpack trailed by two at halftime before winning the third by six. They won field goal percentage 41.8 to 33.8, 3-point percentage 35.3 to 29.2 and attempted and made seven more free throws. They won bench points 21-8.