North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Women Top Seminoles in ACC Tournament
3/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
And considering how the Wolfpack is playing, Yow is finding plenty of added strength through the most demanding part of the season.
Gillian Goring had a career-high 22 points and 19 rebounds and No. 24 N.C. State dominated the second half to beat Florida State 76-49 in Friday's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals.
It was the Wolfpack's ninth win in 10 games.
Shayla Fields added 13 of her 16 points after halftime for the fourth-seeded Wolfpack (22-8), who advanced to Saturday's semifinals to face top-ranked and unbeaten Duke - the tournament's top seed. Duke beat eighth-seeded Virginia 79-58 in Friday's quarterfinals.
The Wolfpack's recent push has come since its Hall of Fame coach returned from a 16-game leave of absence for treatment of cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 1987 and first recurred during the 2004-05 season.
``It inspires me to be back with them,'' Yow said. ``It's a mutual thing. It's not just one way.''
Yow's fight - which has included almost-weekly chemotherapy sessions this season - has made her a sentimental favorite here. One fan of rival North Carolina even held up a sign during the game reading, ``Carolina loves you, Coach Yow.'' And fans throughout the Greensboro Coliseum saved their loudest cheer for Yow during the starting lineups.
``I cried for a few minutes after I walked out because I appreciate the support,'' Yow said, her voice quivering in an emotional postgame news conference. ``I wish I had the time to tell you what every team, every coach, many fans from every team, have written me. I know there were a lot of them in the stands who prayed for me. When I walked out and all the fans from the different schools started ... It was just overwhelming.''
So too was the Wolfpack's second-half performance against the fifth-seeded Seminoles (22-9). Florida State trailed 27-25 at halftime, but shot just 10-for-37 (27 percent) in the second half while being outscored 20-2 in the final six minutes to turn the game into a rout.
Goring, a 6-foot-7 senior, finished 9-for-15 from the field and her 19 rebounds were the third-best single-game total in ACC tournament history.
``I committed my whole life to coming out and playing hard and being the most dominant player for Coach Yow,'' Goring said.
She got plenty of help from Fields, a 5-9 sophomore who had struggled in recent weeks but bounced back with a solid performance. Fields went 4-for-5 from the field after halftime, including a 3-pointer that gave the Wolfpack a 50-36 lead with 11:34 left.
Fields finished 5-for-10 for the game, an improvement on her 21-for-94 (22 percent) shooting - including 10-for-47 from 3-point range - in her previous 11 games.
Senior Ashley Key also knocked down a pair of 3s early in the second half, part of N.C. State's 57-percent shooting after the break. The Seminoles got no closer than nine points after Fields' 3.
``The coaches said we had to be better than the person we were playing,'' Fields said. ``I think we took that as a challenge to try to outplay our opponents.''
The Seminoles tied it at 29 on a basket from Britany Miller with 18:50 left, but Khadijah Whittington answered with a score inside on the next possession - starting a run of seven straight points that put the Wolfpack ahead to stay.
``They're just a tougher team than we are,'' Florida State coach Sue Semrau said. ``They finished shots with a lot of contact and we couldn't finish our shots with the same kind of contact.''
