North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack and Tigers Will Tangle in ACC Quarterfinals
3/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 4, 2004
Player Bios in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
ACC Tournament Central
RALEIGH, NC - NC State women's basketball, 16-13 and 8-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, will face the 17-10, 7-9 Clemson Tigers at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 6. NC State earned the third seed after making one of the Wolfpack's best turnarounds in ACC play in history. The squad finished the first round of ACC play with a 2-6 record and then went 6-2 in the second round, winning eight of its last 11 contests.
Seniors Kaayla Chones and Nanna Rivers earned All-ACC awards on Wednesday. Chones took home her third All-ACC honor, and first, first team nod. She led NC State in scoring and rebounding all season wit 14.9 ppg and 7 .7 rpg. Rivers was selected to the ACC All-Defensive team. She currently stands third in the league in assist/turnover ratio, having dished out 102 assists and committing only 58 turnovers (1.76). River is just the second NC State player to be honored on the ACC All-Defensive team.
Freshman Marquetta Dickens is second on the team in scoring with 8.1 ppg and 9.3 ppg in ACC meetings. She is hitting 1.31 three-pointers per game as well.
NC State is 9-7 all time as the third seed and has been the third seed seven of the last 10 years. NC State holds an 8-3 advantage over Clemson in the tournament and leads 39-27 all-time versus the Tigers. NC State and Clemson met in the 2002 ACC Tournament. The Wolfpack was the sixth seed, while the Tigers were third. NC State advanced to the semifinals with a 61-52 win.
Clemson finished the first round of ACC play with an even 4-4 record, which included three-straight wins before entering the second round. The Tigers fell on hard times after sweeping Virginia, losing five straight beginning with Maryland on Jan. 29 and ending with a 76-55 loss at NC State on Feb. 19. The Tigers then won two straight before losing two straight to conclude the regular season. All in all Clemson finished the second round of play with a 3-5 record. The Tigers' Lakeia Stokes was named to the first team All-ACC on Wednesday. The guard/forward led the Tigers in points and rebounds with 16.8 ppg and 6.9 rpg.
The Wolfpack is 3-4 in the Greensboro Coliseum in the previous four seasons in the venue. NC State is 31-22 all-time in the ACC Tournament and has won four ACC Championships: 1980, 1985, 1987 and 1991.
