Miami grabs big lead early, holds off No. 4 NC State 73-59

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- — Jasmyne Roberts, Shayeann Day-Wilson and Lashae Dwyer scored 18 points each and Miami beat No. 4 North Carolina State 73-59 on Thursday night.

Roberts and Day-Wilson both shot 7 of 14 from the field as the Hurricanes (12-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) built an early double-digit lead.

N.C. State (15-2, 3-2) rallied from a 14-point deficit early in the third quarter to cut it to 56-50 on Mimi Collins’ two free throws with 5:59 remaining in the fourth. But the Hurricanes responded with a 14-2 run capped by Dwyer’s 3-pointer with 2:05 left for a 70-52 lead.

“We made big plays, players had special performances and no one deferred. Their job was to finish the play,” Miami coach Katie Meier said. “I know we caught N.C. State not on their greatest game in the world but we had a lot to do with it.”

The Hurricanes were 10-1 before losing four of five to start conference play.

“The ACC is a hard league and we couldn’t hold our heads down too long over the losses,” Roberts said. “Everyone just locked in and was committed to each other. For it to all come together tonight — everybody’s hitting their shots, dialed in on defense — it was a good feeling.”

Collins scored 18 points, Saniya Rivers added 17 and Zoe Brooks had 14 for the Wolfpack.

“We’re going to get everybody’s A game,” N.C. State coach Wes Moore said. “Although we’re probably not going to be ranked as high now, when you come in here ranked fourth in the country you’re going to get hit in the mouth a few times. And you have to respond to that and we didn’t. We didn’t play hard enough.”

Miami capitalized on the absence of 6-foot-5 N.C. State center River Baldwin by outscoring the Wolfpack 38-16 in the paint. Baldwin, who averages a team-leading 17.5 points per game, missed her third straight game because of an ankle injury.

After shooting under 20% on 3-pointers in their previous two games, the Hurricanes opened by hitting three of their first four against N.C. State. Consecutive 3-pointers by Day-Wilson and Roberts keyed a 10-0 run to end the first quarter and put Miami ahead 21-10.

The Wolfpack couldn’t counter with an extended run to overcome the early deficit.

“That’s credit to our defense,” Roberts said. “Even when we didn’t score, we were still able to keep them from scoring.”

Dwyer’s layup with 31 seconds remaining gave Miami its third 14-point lead of the second quarter at 43-29 before Collins’ 3-pointer got the Wolfpack within 11 at the break.

BIG PICTURE

N.C. State: The weeklong layoff between games perhaps affected the Wolfpack early on. They shot 4 for 20 from the field and had five turnovers in the first quarter. N.C. State used its open date Sunday after beating Virginia 93-66 on Jan. 11.

Miami: The win closed the Hurricanes’ three-game stretch against top 25 teams. They also had double-digit road losses at No. 14 Virginia Tech and No. 19 Notre Dame.

UP NEXT

N.C. State: hosts Duke on Sunday.

Miami: visits North Carolina Jan. 25.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball