Thursday was not a good night for the two Triangle public universities in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in women’s basketball.
No. 4 UNC suffered its first loss of the season, falling 72-66 at No 22 Michigan State, while N.C. State lost at home to Wisconsin 53-48.
The ACC still won the Challenge for the third time in as many tries, winning seven out of 11 games overall this week after a 5-3 record on Thursday.
Besides Duke’s big victory over Ohio State, Florida State won at Indiana, Clemson won a squeaker at Northwestern, Maryland beat visiting Minnesota and Virginia topped visiting Purdue. Michigan won at Virginia Tech.
Michigan State held off the Tar Heels despite a 29-point performance from Italee Lucas (pictured). Cetera DeGraffenreid added 13 points for UNC (5-1).
Lauren Aitch had 15 points to lead MSU (5-2), followed by Allyssa DeHaan with 14 and Aisha Jefferson 13.
In Raleigh, N.C. State shot just 32.7 percent from the floor against the Badgers, and only Bonae Holston with 13 points finished with more than six for the Wolfpack.
Taylor Wurtz had 13 points and Tara Steinbauer added 11 for Wisconsin, which shot 43.1 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Wolfpack 38-24.
