UNC women's basketball beats NC State behind strong inside play

In its 72-50 blowout victory against Virginia Tech on Friday, the No. 16 North Carolina women’s basketball team displayed strength beyond the 3-point arc, making nine-of-17 from deep.

But in Sunday’s 68-58 defeat of N.C. State, UNC went 0-for-9 from long range, forcing the Tar Heels to rely heavily on point production from close to the basket.

After each team scored 20 points in the paint in the first half on Sunday, the Tar Heels dominated the second-half battle inside.

Led by seniors Waltiea Rolle and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, UNC finished the afternoon having outscored the Wolfpack 42-32 inside the paint.

N.C. State coach Kellie Harper said UNC was more aggressive in the second half and able to score inside by taking advantage of the Wolfpack defense.

“I felt like a lot of the points in the paint were off of offensive boards,” Harper said. “Also, they had some nice penetration into the paint as well and looked more aggressive offensively in the second half.”

While both Rolle and N.C. State’s Kody Burke had 11 total rebounds, Rolle recorded seven offensive rebounds — four more than Burke — which she converted into easy points. The senior center ended the game with 21 points, shooting seven-for-14 from the field and seven-for-nine from the free-throw line.

“Going into the game, we wanted to play physical with her,” Burke said. “I felt we did a good job on her, and in the second half she was more energized and got more offensive rebounds.

“She’s a great player and moves well for her size.”

Rolle displayed her range by stepping outside of the post and hitting a few mid-range jump shots.

North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said she sees room for Rolle’s improvement but commended her center’s strength as a jump shooter.

“Waltiea is going to get better and better as she gets stronger and more balanced. She plays so straight up sometimes that we’re trying to get her a little more wide base, lower center of gravity,” Hatchell said. “She can really shoot the ball — she can shoot threes.

“Nobody else made a three, so maybe we need to bring Waltiea out and let her shoot a couple.”

A 5-foot-10 point guard, Ruffin-Pratt often found herself being defended by two smaller players — N.C. State starting guards Len’Nique Brown and Krystal Barrett. But Ruffin-Pratt, who tallied a game-high 24 points, was able to muscle her way past Brown and Barrett and score inside in the paint.

“I play against a lot of little guards because I’m a big point guard, and I can take them down in the post,” Ruffin-Pratt said. “A lot of them are weaker than me, so one little bump and they go flying.”
Harper said she asked a lot of Barrett, who spent the most time defending Ruffin-Pratt but was unable to slow her down.

“We asked Barrett to get her in the backcourt and annoy her — try to make her think about something other than her team,” Harper said. “But when she has that ball up top, and the tempo is being dictated by her, she is very good.

“You don’t want to do it on her terms.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.