The GW women’s basketball team has lost just three times at the Smith Center in the past four seasons.

One of those losses came Saturday afternoon to visiting North Carolina State University, who led for almost the entire game before beating the No. 21 Colonial women 68-64.

“I don’t think too many teams will win a game here (in the Smith Center),” N.C. State head coach Kay Yow said. “I feel very fortunate to come out of here with a win.”

GW (1-1) trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half, but was able to rally late in the game, closing in on N.C. State 58-60 with a layup by freshman Petra Dubovcova.

The Colonial women dug another hole for themselves, falling behind by seven before sophomore Marlo Egleston drove the left side for a basket and later drilled a three-pointer to put GW within two again at 64-66.

N.C. State (3-0) took possession with 1:02 to go in the game, and GW fouled with 36.5 seconds remaining. The Wolfpack’s Nailah Wallace missed both free throws, but All-American candidate Chasity Melvin got the rebound and kicked the ball out for another shot.

After shooting a badly-off three-pointer, N.C. State’s Peace Shepard put back the miss with five seconds remaining to ice the game.

The Colonial women shot horrendously, hitting just 33 percent of their shots from the field and only three of 17 three-point efforts.

“We weren’t making the shots that we make in practice,” GW head coach Joe McKeown said. “We rushed a lot of shots, but they had us rushing, so give them credit.”

Junior center Khadija Deas was one of the few GW players who had a good game, registering team highs of 13 points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Noelia Gomez had a rough night, scoring just four points in the first half and finishing the game with 12. Freshman Elisa Aguilar, who surprised many with her 19-point effort against Georgetown University last week, was held to 10 points.

GW’s defense was about as bad as its offense, though the Colonial women forced 25 turnovers. N.C. State took constant advantage of lapses in GW’s defense, turning them into easy layups.

“There were a lot of times today when we beat ourselves defensively,” McKeown said. “We might have overcome shooting 33 percent if we hadn’t made some bad decisions on defense.”