North Carolina State University Athletics
Stepping Out For Dance Lessons
1/24/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Halfway through the tough ACC schedule, NC State is taking on a couple of non-conference opponents, both with great women's basketball legacies. Texas and Tennessee could be called "necessary evils" as the Wolfpack Women march toward the NCAA post-season challenge.
"It's tough playing teams like these in the middle of your ACC schedule," said Wolfpack Women's coach Kay Yow. "But in a way it's nice to have a week to go on a road trip and not see an ACC opponent."
Yow sees the games against the Longhorns and Lady Vols as a chance to give her young team some tournament type experience. Even the practice schedule has to change to prepare for an unfamiliar foe, for example.
When the invitations for the big dance go out that second week of March, who you've played and where you've been can influence the seeding. Many basketball experts agree that Duke would not have beaten Tennessee in the East Regional last season, without the experience the Blue Devils picked up in a November matchup against the Lady Vols. Tennessee whipped Duke 74 to 60 in that first meeting, but Duke countered with a 69 to 63 upset to reach the 1999 Final Four.
At Texas the young Wolfpack Women walked onto a court bathed in a sea of burnt orange and the larger than life longhorn emblem at midcourt in the Erwin Center at Austin. Orange banners hung in the rafters, commemorating years of Texas women's basketball success.
After taking a 12-point lead in the first half, the Longhorns 8,000 fans got the home team roaring back and NC State led at the half 42-41. Texas rode the 3-point shooting of freshman Alisha Sare ( 5 for 11) to an 81-77 win Sunday.
The victory gave the Big 12 Conference a sweep of Sunday's ACC/Big 12 Challenge. Number 8 ranked Iowa State beat North Carolina 79 to 67 in Sunday's first game at Ames, Iowa.
While fans get very excited about which conference is the best, coach Kay Yow doesn't think the players dwell on that aspect of the play. "I'm thinking about it because I'd like us to represent the ACC well," said Yow prior to taking the floor against Texas. "The players, though, see this as playing Texas and they know about the matchups they have against the other team. They know what they need to do to have the best chance of winning the game. That's where their focus is."
NC State has almost a week to focus on their next dance lesson against Tennessee. They will meet the Lady Vols in Cleveland, Ohio. That will be a homecoming for Summer Erb and Kaayla Chones, the two Wolfpack Women with family and friends in that area.
NC State didn't quite master the Texas two-step in Austin, but they just may have picked up pointers to make Arthur Murray proud at the big dance in March.
