North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Tabbed Fourth in ACC Preseason Poll
10/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 26, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State women's basketball was selected to finish fourth among the 12 Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the preseason media and head coaches poll. Duke received 30 of the 40 first place votes as the top pick. The Wolfpack opens the 2005-06 season with a home game against UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 18. NC State's roster returns all five of its leading scorers from a year ago including All-ACC honorees, seniors Tiffany Stansbury and Billie McDowell.
2005-06 Preseason Poll
1. Duke
2. North Carolina
3. Maryland
4. NC State
5. Boston College
6. Florida State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Virginia
9. Wake Forest
10. Georgia Tech
11. Miami
12. Clemson
Preseason All-ACC Team
Monique Currie, Duke
Shay Doron, Maryland
Tamara James, Miami
Crystal Langhorne, Maryland
Erlana Larkins, North Carolina
Ivory Latta, North Carolina
Preseason Player of the Year
Monique Currie, Duke
Preseason Rookie of the Year
Abby Waner, Duke
NC State returns 11 players from a year ago, including four of the five starters and the top five in scoring average. Senior Tiffany Stansbury is the team's top scorer and rebounder, averaging 11.6 ppg and 7.0 rpg in her first season with the Wolfpack. She also ranked 50th in the nation in field goal percentage at 51.0%. Stansbury was a second team All-ACC honoree. Senior Billie McDowell is the only starter returning who was there for the opening tip in all 29 games. The shooting guard tore her left ACL in the Pack's NCAA Tournament game versus Middle Tennessee State just eight minutes in. Prior to her departure she was the team's leading scorer, but finished with an 11.2 ppg average. She is also one of the Pack's best three-point shooters, hitting 52 of 151 attempts (34.4%). McDowell was also pretty quick on defense as well as she nabbed a team-high 48 steals. She was named third team All-ACC. NC State's top defender, junior Ashley Key, an All-ACC Defensive team member as a sophomore, brings some offense as well with her third-best 8.6 ppg. And junior Marquetta Dickens, who spent most of her sophomore campaign down in the post, will move out to the wing. She was second on the team in rebounds with 5.3 rpg and finished with a scoring average of 8.3 ppg. In addition to these four starters, the Pack saw significant time off the bench from sophomore Khadijah Whittington. She averaged nearly 20 minutes per game with just one start (the NCAA tournament game). Whittington was third in rebounding with 5.2 rpg and fourth in scoring with 8.4 ppg. She was named to the ACC All-Freshmen team.
"Depth is the key for us this season," said NC State head coach Kay Yow. "We have a lot experience from a lot of young players from last year and as a result this year we are really boosted when it comes to the number of players to help us. This year we can look to see more players play more minutes. The depth will allow us to press more and to go harder, longer. With all of that, our pressure defense has a chance to be really good. And should any injuries occur, we have a lot of depth to help us with that. It really feels good to have a number of people with the kind of experience that we have."
NC State will face a potential 17 teams this upcoming season that advanced into postseason play in 04-05. Fifteen of those teams appeared in the NCAA Tournament, including a possible matchup with Rutgers, an Elite 8 squad, a possible game versus Sweet 16 cinderella squad Liberty and the Pack will face second round team Utah and potentially Notre Dame, also a second round team, in Las Vegas at the Duel in the Desert. Also on the non-conference slate are Sweet 16 Vanderbilt, second round George Washington, first round Iowa State and Dartmouth as well as WNIT participants, BYU, UNLV and Arkansas State.
"Once again we have a very strong schedule," said Yow. "Our schedule will be very challenging and we will have to be ready early."
Things won't ease up when NC State takes on an ACC slate, which holds seven NCAA Tournament bound opponents in Boston College, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and Virginia Tech. This is in addition to Wake Forest, which advanced to the third round of the WNIT.
This year brings the toughest and most competitive ACC schedule to date and every team has become stronger and more competitive."
NC State opens the ACC slate against Virginia Tech in Reynolds Coliseum on Monday, Jan. 2, at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on FOX Sports Net South.
