North Carolina State University Athletics
No. 23 Wolfpack Knocks Off EA Sports 101-73
11/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - No. 23 NC State women's basketball knocked off EA Sports 101-73 in its one and only exhibition game on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Five players finished in double figures, led by sophomore Khadijah Whittington's double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Tiffany Stansbury, also added 20 points. Juniors Marquetta Dickens, Ashley Key and Goring also finished in double figures. Ebony Tanner led EA Sports with 17 points. NC State officially opens regular season play this Friday, Nov. 18, with a 7 p.m. tip-off with UNC Greensboro in Reynolds Coliseum.
"We certainly have our bright spots in this exhibition game, and then we certainly have areas that we would like to be better in," said NC State head coach Kay Yow. "We're starting the season, so hopefully we'll just continue to improve. We had five people in double figures, so that's a good sign."
The Pack let EA Sports take a 2-0 lead on the first basket of the game, but it was all NC State after that. Freshman Khadijah Whittington hit three of the Pack's first four made baskets to kick-start the Wolfpack offense and give NC State a 10-2 lead five minutes into the game. The Pack did not allow another EA Sports field goal until the 13:27 mark and at that time NC State had a solid lead at 16-4. In fact, EA Sports did not reach double figures until the 7:09 point of the half after a banked-in three-pointer from the top of the arc. The Wolfpack on the other hand used its first 20 minutes to see the scoring potential of its squad. Whittington finished the half with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting and added six rebounds. Also in double figures was junior Marquetta Dickens with 11 points, seven of which came from a 7-of-8 free throw performance. Junior Gillian Goring had 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and had two steals. Junior Keisha Brown posted four assists. NC State took its biggest lead of 32 points into the half with the score sitting at 55-23. The Pack shot an impressive 90 percent from the free throw line.
The second half saw just as much offense but a little less defense. The Wolfpack gave up 50 second half points versus just 23 in the first period. Both teams shot over 50 percent in the second half. NC State saw a solid performance from Stansbury who posted 16 of her 20 points in the final 20 minutes. EA Sports knocked down 59.3 percent of its shots, while NC State hit 51.3 percent. The Wolfpack also forced 29 turnovers (18 of which came from steals) and allowed 25 field goals, while holding EA Sports to just 10 assists and nine offensive rebounds. Conversely, NC State recorded just 12 turnovers and finished with 26 assists and shot an impressive 81.5 percent from the free throw line (22-27). For the game Dickens recorded 19 points, Key finished with 12 points and a game-high seven assists in her point guard debut and Goring added 15 points.
This was the second game in which EA Sports had given up more than 100 points. The squad lost at Duke, Nov. 2, 118-73.
NC State will host UNC Greensboro on Friday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. in Reynolds Coliseum.
Stat Summary
Whittington, Stansbury: 20 points
Whittington: 11 rebounds
Key: 7 assists
Stansbury: 3 blocks
Dickens, Stansbury, Fields: 3 steals
