NC State downs Boston College, 106-84

Normally you might have to worry a little bit if you give up 16 made threes, but not so on Thursday night, as not even a ridiculously above-average shooting performance from Boston College could keep the Eagles close. NC State’s offense was relentless thanks to standout performances from Zoe Brooks, Tilda Trygger, Khamil Pierre, and Zam Jones.

State got whatever it wanted inside the arc against BC’s shoddy defense: Brooks was 6-7 on twos and went to the line 12 times, Trygger was 8-11, and Pierre was 8-10. ACC opponents have made 65% of their shots inside the arc against the Eagles, and watching them try to defend the paint tonight, it’s little wonder. NC State shot 73.2% (30-41) from two.

State’s defensive effort wasn’t great—among other things, it should have been better on the glass against a below-average rebounding team—and BC doubled its season-high for threes made in an ACC game. BC ended up shooting better from three (42%) than from two (40%).

BC did cool off in the third quarter as State pushed a nine-point halftime lead to 13, and the Pack started the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run to put the game away.

Brooks was fantastic again, finishing this one with 27 points after piling up 37 at UVA—she is 31-32 from the free throw line over the last two games. Trygger scored a career-high 25 points, Pierre turned in another ho-hum double-double, and Jones was 4-7 from three on the way to 18 points. Boston College made everything very easy for them, and they capitalized. (It’s a little staggering just how bad BC is defensively. The Eagles rank 362 out of 363 teams in 2FG% defense. Yikes!)

NC State set new season-highs in eFG% (67.7), 2FG% (73.2), and points per possession (1.41).