Top 10 of the 2010s: 21 Is a Winning Hand
As we approch the final 10 days of the 2010s, SI Wolfpack Maven takes a look back at the past 10 years in NC State sports and counts down the Wolfpack's top 10 moments of the decade.
Today is Dec. 25, 2019.
With seven days remaining, it's time to check in on Moment No. 7: The amazing season-opening 21-game winning streak by the 2018-19 women's basketball team.
The NC State women's basketball team beat Pittsburgh last Jan. 11 to improve its record to 16-0. When Notre Dame defeated Louisville later that same day, the Wolfpack became the only undfeated team -- men or women -- left in college basketball.
It would be almost another month before coach Wes Moore's team was finally beaten, a loss to rival North Carolina that ended State's season-opening streak at a remarkable 21 straight wins.
It was an amazing run that helped catapult the Wolfpack all the way to No. 7 in the national rankings and at least for awhile, helped divert some national attention away from perennial powers UConn, Notre Dame and Baylor.
The 21 straight wins tied for second on State's all-time list to start a season, behind only the men's basketball team that won 27 straight games on the way to an unbeaten season in 1972-73 while the wrestling of 2015-16, which also won 21 in a row before losing a dual meet to Virginia Tech.
Led by senior guard Kiara Leslie, who went on to be chosen by the Washington Mystics in the first round of the WNBA draft, record-setting 3-point sharpshooter Aislinn Konig and dominant freshman center Elissaa Cunane, thje team went on finish 28-6 on the way to a second straight trip to the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16.
There's no telling how much farther the team might have been able to advance had four key players -- point guard Kaila Ealey, leading scorer Grace Hunter, starting forward Erika Cassell and backup guard Armani Hawkins -- not all been sidelined with knee injuries, leaving State with precious little depth when it counted the most.
Top 10 NC State Sports Moments of he 2010s
No. 10: Dennis Smith Jr, and the Wolfpack upset Duke at Cameron
No. 9: State's extra inning tradition at the ACC baseball tournament
No. 8: The revitalization of Reynolds Coliseum
No. 7: Women's basketball 21-game winning streak to start 2018-19
Don't forget to check back on Thursday for moment No. 6
