North Carolina State University Athletics
Xavier Stuns No. 24 Women's Basketball, 51-49
12/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BY BRANDON YOPP
RALEIGH, N.C. Xavier might have arrived at historic Reynolds Coliseum on Tuesday night with back-to-back losses under its belt, but they sure didn’t play like it. The Musketeers (5-3) used sound defense to snap a six-game NC State (8-2) winning streak, 51-49. The loss marks the Pack’s first defeat on Kay Yow court since falling to No. 1 Duke on Jan. 18 last season.
“I thought the team played really hard,” said Yow, who caught an early morning flight from Newark, N.J. to return to Raleigh for the game after yesterday’s unveiling of the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. “Defensively, you hold a team to 50 points and you figure you can beat them.”
Prior to the game State had toppled its last 30 non-conference foes at home, but apparently nobody bothered to tell that to Kevin McGuff’s squad. Xavier forced 14 Wolfpack turnovers, 10 in the second half, while holding NC State to a 35.4 percent shooting clip. The Pack also struggled from behind the arch, hitting just one of 14 attempts from three-point range, a season-low.
Neither team got a single point from its bench.
“We had trouble scoring,” said Yow. “That was our whole problem. I thought we did a really good job in the second half. We picked the tempo up, and we were really pushing the ball, running the court and getting a few easy baskets.
“We had our chances right down the stretch. We just couldn’t get it done.”
After being held in check for the first time all season by Temple, Khadijah Whittington was back to her old self, tying her career high with 26 points while pulling in nine boards. Nikitta Gartrell added eight points, while Shayla Fields and Lucy Ellison each had six.
Gartrell led the team in rebounds with 12, and Ellison contributed 11 of her own.
Amber Harris (19), Jerri Taylor (15) and Ta’Shia Phillips (10) all scored in double-digits for Xavier, with Harris collecting a game-high 13 rebounds.
Whittington put up 18 in the opening half, but the rest of the team struggled, combining for six points as the Pack failed to generate any type of offense aside from its senior leader. Ahead by three, State went on a four-minute scoring drought, watching as a three-point basket from Taylor put the Musketeers up 18-16 with 4:12 left. Fields tied things up moments later with a jumper near the free-throw line, but Harris answered with seven-straight to help put Xavier back ahead at intermission, 29-24.
Both teams traded punches at the onset of the second half as the Musketeers stretched its lead to 35-28. Two baskets from Whittington moved the Pack to within three, but Taylor sunk another three ball and Phillips followed with a jumper.
Megan Zullo sank the Pack’s lone long ball of the night with 7:34 left to play, cutting the lead to 42-37. Moments later Whittington drew a foul on Taylor underneath the basket, sending the ball, and momentum, over to the Pack.
But State just couldn’t seem to take advantage of Xavier’s lapse in play. Nearly two minutes unfolded before the next basket was scored, when Ellison hit a lay-up to shrink the lead to three. Following a Taylor miss on the other end, Gartrell fed another pass inside to Ellison, who tossed in another lay-up to send the crowd of 1,007 into a frenzy as Xavier’s lead shrunk to a single point.
The Musketeers didn’t relent, however, quickly pushing the score to 46-43 before a Whittington lay-up again cut the lead to one with under three minutes left.
That’s as close as the Pack would get though, as baskets by Harris and Phillips extended the score, while Taylor added a free throw for good measure.
“The lesson that we learned is to just come out hard,” said Gartrell, who stood at mid-court in disbelief for a few moments after the buzzer sounded. “We waited around until the last minute to try and pull it out.”
NC State will return to the hardwood this Sunday, Dec. 9 against East Carolina in Greenville, N.C. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.
RALEIGH, N.C. Xavier might have arrived at historic Reynolds Coliseum on Tuesday night with back-to-back losses under its belt, but they sure didn’t play like it. The Musketeers (5-3) used sound defense to snap a six-game NC State (8-2) winning streak, 51-49. The loss marks the Pack’s first defeat on Kay Yow court since falling to No. 1 Duke on Jan. 18 last season.
“I thought the team played really hard,” said Yow, who caught an early morning flight from Newark, N.J. to return to Raleigh for the game after yesterday’s unveiling of the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. “Defensively, you hold a team to 50 points and you figure you can beat them.”
Prior to the game State had toppled its last 30 non-conference foes at home, but apparently nobody bothered to tell that to Kevin McGuff’s squad. Xavier forced 14 Wolfpack turnovers, 10 in the second half, while holding NC State to a 35.4 percent shooting clip. The Pack also struggled from behind the arch, hitting just one of 14 attempts from three-point range, a season-low.
Neither team got a single point from its bench.
“We had trouble scoring,” said Yow. “That was our whole problem. I thought we did a really good job in the second half. We picked the tempo up, and we were really pushing the ball, running the court and getting a few easy baskets.
“We had our chances right down the stretch. We just couldn’t get it done.”
After being held in check for the first time all season by Temple, Khadijah Whittington was back to her old self, tying her career high with 26 points while pulling in nine boards. Nikitta Gartrell added eight points, while Shayla Fields and Lucy Ellison each had six.
Gartrell led the team in rebounds with 12, and Ellison contributed 11 of her own.
Amber Harris (19), Jerri Taylor (15) and Ta’Shia Phillips (10) all scored in double-digits for Xavier, with Harris collecting a game-high 13 rebounds.
Whittington put up 18 in the opening half, but the rest of the team struggled, combining for six points as the Pack failed to generate any type of offense aside from its senior leader. Ahead by three, State went on a four-minute scoring drought, watching as a three-point basket from Taylor put the Musketeers up 18-16 with 4:12 left. Fields tied things up moments later with a jumper near the free-throw line, but Harris answered with seven-straight to help put Xavier back ahead at intermission, 29-24.
Both teams traded punches at the onset of the second half as the Musketeers stretched its lead to 35-28. Two baskets from Whittington moved the Pack to within three, but Taylor sunk another three ball and Phillips followed with a jumper.
Megan Zullo sank the Pack’s lone long ball of the night with 7:34 left to play, cutting the lead to 42-37. Moments later Whittington drew a foul on Taylor underneath the basket, sending the ball, and momentum, over to the Pack.
But State just couldn’t seem to take advantage of Xavier’s lapse in play. Nearly two minutes unfolded before the next basket was scored, when Ellison hit a lay-up to shrink the lead to three. Following a Taylor miss on the other end, Gartrell fed another pass inside to Ellison, who tossed in another lay-up to send the crowd of 1,007 into a frenzy as Xavier’s lead shrunk to a single point.
The Musketeers didn’t relent, however, quickly pushing the score to 46-43 before a Whittington lay-up again cut the lead to one with under three minutes left.
That’s as close as the Pack would get though, as baskets by Harris and Phillips extended the score, while Taylor added a free throw for good measure.
“The lesson that we learned is to just come out hard,” said Gartrell, who stood at mid-court in disbelief for a few moments after the buzzer sounded. “We waited around until the last minute to try and pull it out.”
NC State will return to the hardwood this Sunday, Dec. 9 against East Carolina in Greenville, N.C. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.
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