n.c. state falls short to duke

When the final buzzer went off in Sunday's game between North Carolina State and Duke, all of the Wolfpack players were stunned.

North Carolina State had a chance to pull off the biggest upset in the women's basketball season. But Duke left Raleigh with a victory after it came back from a 20-point deficit to beat the Wolfpack 65-64.

While the Blue Devils were smiling and cheering in their locker room, second-year N.C. State coach Kellie Harper was in tears at the press conference.

"I'm brokenhearted," Harper said in the Raleigh News-Observer on Monday. "Our kids proved that they can play with that team. Didn't quite prove we can beat them yet. I hate that because our kids fought hard. We had a great first half. We just have to learn how to finish."

With the win, Duke remains the only undefeated team in Division I women's basketball at 19-0 and looks to pick up its 20th win on Wednesday against Clemson.

"We felt it tonight," Duke senior Krystal Thomas said in the Durham Herald Sun on Monday. "It's our time. We were going to win."

With the heartbreaking loss, the Wolfpack dropped under the .500 mark at 9-10 overall. N.C. State will take a three-game losing streak into Thursday's game with Miami. With 10 regular season games remaining, the Wolfpack hope they turn things around and make another run to the NCAA tournament.

"I think the feeling that all of us have right now is going to fuel us for the rest of the season," N.C. State sophomore Marissa Kastanek said in the N.C. State Technician on Monday. "Yes, it's (the loss to Duke) going to give us confidence because obviously we can play with the number three ranked team, obviously we're good enough to do that. And I think it took a game like this, unfortunately, we had to lose it."

The Wolfpack have five home games remaining. Their next home game will be on Jan. 30 against Florida State as part of their Hoops 4 Hope promotion. The school is raising money for breast cancer awareness and the proceeds will benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, named after the longtime N.C. State coach who passed away in 2009.

A year ago, N.C. State finished 20-14. The Wolfpack finished their regular season by winning five of seven games, then they pulled off three wins in the ACC tournament before losing to Duke in the finals. They lost to UCLA in the NCAA first round at Minneapolis.

This year's team has been on a rollercoaster. The Wolfpack started their season by winning the Wolfpack Invitational, then lost back-to-back road games to Alabama and Richmond. N.C. State was 8-6 after beating Elizabeth City State on Jan. 2 before losing four of its next five games, including Sunday's contest with Duke.

N.C. State was off to a good start against the Blue Devils, taking a 17-5 lead and increasing it 40-22 at halftime. The Wolfpack held the Blue Devils to 22 percent shooting in the first half.

But Duke came back in the second half thanks to its defense. The Blue Devils' full-court press forced the Wolfpack to commit 14 of their 22 turnovers in the second half.

Freshman Chelsea Gray was another key in the Blue Devils' comeback, scoring the game-winning basket with 12 seconds left and finishing with 13 points.

"How many teams do you know that are down 20 and come back and win?" Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said in the Duke Chronicle on Monday. "That's a very special thing."

But the loss was something N.C. State would go back and say, 'what happened?'

"When you get a lead like that, you start playing not to lose and you can't do that," Harper said in the Herald-Sun. "You've got to have confidence in how you played in the first 20 minutes and realize you can do it again. That's the making of a winning team."

Big jump: After getting a pair of SEC victories over Alabama and Mississippi State last week,

the Georgia Bulldogs made the biggest jump out of the top 25 teams this week, moving from

24th to 20th.

The Bulldogs improved to 16-3 overall and 6-0 in SEC play. Georgia is in second to Tennessee by one-half game in the league standings.

Georgia beat Alabama 60-51 on Thursday and Mississippi State 78-58 on Sunday to extend its winning streak to seven games. The Bulldogs play at South Carolina on Thursday and at LSU on Sunday.

Welcome aboard, Tech: After splitting their two games to Duke and Boston College last week, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets enter this week's polls at No. 25.

Georgia Tech is 17-5 overall and 5-1 in ACC play. Duke handed the Yellow Jackets their only loss in ACC play with a 69-32 win on Friday.

Georgia Tech travels to Virginia Tech on Thursday and Miami on Sunday.