North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Wolfpack To Face Tulsa In NCAA Tournament
3/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 13, 2006
Billie McDowell talks about the NCAA Tournament bid
Ashley Key talks about the NCAA Tournament
Coach Yow talks about the NCAA Tournament
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH -- It's been nearly 10 days since the NC State women's basketball team played its last game. And the Wolfpack coaches and players will have to wait the longest possible time before they play in the NCAA Tournament, in a 10 p.m. Saturday game against No. 12 seed Tulsa in Chicago.
But Kay Yow's fifth-seeded team (19-11) believe they will be rested and ready to go when they make their third consecutive appearance in the event and the 19th appearance in school history. The Wolfpack is in the San Antonio Region and would advance there by winning its first two games.
"We have to really work on staying motivated and be ready to work in practice," said senior Billie McDowell. "We had a whole week of practice last week during spring break and most of this week. We have to stay focused, so we can get done what we have to get done."
It will be an unfamiliar opponent. The Wolfpack and the Golden Hurricanes have never met in women's basketball.
"I think over spring break, a lot of us had some time to see our families and get our bodies rested up," said junior Ashley Key. "We had practice, of course. But in the off time, there wasn't school to go to all day. [Tuesday], the focus starts on our new journey that we have."
The Wolfpack watched Monday night's selection show from Amedeo's Restaurant in Raleigh, letting out a big cheer when the school name flashed up on the screen.
"The first thing is we are just happy that we had the kind of season that qualifies us for the NCAA Tournament," said Yow, who celebrates her birthday on Tuesday. "As everybody knows, the ACC is the toughest this year it has ever been. The league could have legitimately had three No. 1 seeds. We had two [North Carolina and Duke], and one No. 2 seed [Maryland]. The league has seven teams that are in.
"There are no easy teams now."
But then there haven't been any all season long for the Wolfpack, which was ranked second in the NCAA's strength of schedule rankings. Yow guided her team to three wins over Top 25 teams and played six games against teams ranked in Top 10 of the RPI.
Yow believes that is what got her team, which finished fifth in the final ACC standings, a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament than Florida State, which finished fourth in the final ACC standings.
"Absolutely, it is the strength of schedule that got us a No. 5 seeding," Yow said. "I am glad to see that the committee stayed true to what they said the criteria would be. We based our schedule on that from Day 1. In the past few years, they have been very committed to sticking to that.
"We felt that that would be the case this year, which is why we put together a demanding schedule."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
