North Carolina State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Drops Tight One to GT, 67-63
1/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BY BRANDON YOPP
RALEIGH, N.C. NC State dropped a 67-63 nail-biter to Georgia Tech in front of a vocal Reynolds Coliseum crowd on Thursday night. The Pack overcame a sluggish first half effort with a concentrated assault in the second stanza, nearly chipping away a one-time double-digit lead in the final seconds of play.
Khadijah Whittington picked up her 13th double-double of the year, the 32nd for her career, with 15 points and 14 rebounds for NC State (12-6, 0-3 ACC). Shayla Fields led the Pack in scoring for the fourth-straight affair on 19 points, one shy of her career high.
Three Tech (16-2, 3-1 ACC) players etched double-digit point totals. Janie Mitchell tossed in 17, while Chioma Nnamaka (16) and Jill Ingram (10) offered noteworthy contributions.
“We played hard tonight,” said Wolfpack head coach Kay Yow. “We didn’t execute as well as we wanted to.
“The turnovers cost us this game. We did other things that were good, but we didn’t take care of the ball.”
The Pack began the game on an offensive tear, landing six of its first eight shots to take a quick 12-5 lead. Meanwhile the Yellow Jackets struggled to take care of the basketball, turning things over seven times in the first six minutes alone.
But head coach MaChelle Joseph’s squad flipped the script by turning on its pressure defense, picking up four steals in under four minutes while scoring seven straight. State was forced to talk things over on the sidelines with the score knotted at 12-all just a tick above 12 minutes.
The Pack’s turnover woes resumed, leading directly to GT assuming control of the opening frame. A Nikitta Gartrell cough-up at 6:10, the red and white’s 18th of the half, led to a Jacqua Williams layup that put Tech up 22-16. Yow signaled for another timeout at 4:42 after the Yellow Jackets had stretched its lead to 26-16 in the midst of a 23-to-4 run.
Megan Zullo put a tourniquet on the Pack’s problems at 4:03 by sinking her first career free throw attempt, ending a drought of 528 minutes played across two seasons without a single visit to the charity stripe prior to the game.
When the curtain fell on the first half, GT sauntered into the break with a 30-23 lead on the scoreboard. The Pack, however, entered the locker room with 23 turnovers a school record according to Yow for a single half. Both teams accounted for 40 turns combined.
State came back onto the floor looking as determined as it had at any previous point in the season, quickly erasing its deficit and tying things up at 34-34 just before the first media timeout. Flat-out physical play, a theme that had carried over from the first half, ensued the rest of the way.
Costly fouls, coupled with hot Tech shooting, allowed the visiting Jackets to resume its lead, which eventually grew to 15 points at 53-38. A fast-break layup by Gartrell at 7:11 cut GT’s lead to six at 53-47, but Nnamaka responded by calmly knocking down a three on the next possession.
Zullo hit a trey of her own on a beautiful pass from Whittington inside at 1:58, inching the Pack to within seven at 61-54. State eventually got to within three of the lead at 64-61 with 35.1 seconds remaining, but Williams hit three free throws down the stretch to fend off the Pack’s sabotage effort.
NC State will return to the hardwood this Sunday, Jan. 20, against Duke in Durham, N.C. Tip off is slated for 1 p.m.
Frank Duke contributed to this report.
RALEIGH, N.C. NC State dropped a 67-63 nail-biter to Georgia Tech in front of a vocal Reynolds Coliseum crowd on Thursday night. The Pack overcame a sluggish first half effort with a concentrated assault in the second stanza, nearly chipping away a one-time double-digit lead in the final seconds of play.
Khadijah Whittington picked up her 13th double-double of the year, the 32nd for her career, with 15 points and 14 rebounds for NC State (12-6, 0-3 ACC). Shayla Fields led the Pack in scoring for the fourth-straight affair on 19 points, one shy of her career high.
Three Tech (16-2, 3-1 ACC) players etched double-digit point totals. Janie Mitchell tossed in 17, while Chioma Nnamaka (16) and Jill Ingram (10) offered noteworthy contributions.
“We played hard tonight,” said Wolfpack head coach Kay Yow. “We didn’t execute as well as we wanted to.
“The turnovers cost us this game. We did other things that were good, but we didn’t take care of the ball.”
The Pack began the game on an offensive tear, landing six of its first eight shots to take a quick 12-5 lead. Meanwhile the Yellow Jackets struggled to take care of the basketball, turning things over seven times in the first six minutes alone.
But head coach MaChelle Joseph’s squad flipped the script by turning on its pressure defense, picking up four steals in under four minutes while scoring seven straight. State was forced to talk things over on the sidelines with the score knotted at 12-all just a tick above 12 minutes.
The Pack’s turnover woes resumed, leading directly to GT assuming control of the opening frame. A Nikitta Gartrell cough-up at 6:10, the red and white’s 18th of the half, led to a Jacqua Williams layup that put Tech up 22-16. Yow signaled for another timeout at 4:42 after the Yellow Jackets had stretched its lead to 26-16 in the midst of a 23-to-4 run.
Megan Zullo put a tourniquet on the Pack’s problems at 4:03 by sinking her first career free throw attempt, ending a drought of 528 minutes played across two seasons without a single visit to the charity stripe prior to the game.
When the curtain fell on the first half, GT sauntered into the break with a 30-23 lead on the scoreboard. The Pack, however, entered the locker room with 23 turnovers a school record according to Yow for a single half. Both teams accounted for 40 turns combined.
State came back onto the floor looking as determined as it had at any previous point in the season, quickly erasing its deficit and tying things up at 34-34 just before the first media timeout. Flat-out physical play, a theme that had carried over from the first half, ensued the rest of the way.
Costly fouls, coupled with hot Tech shooting, allowed the visiting Jackets to resume its lead, which eventually grew to 15 points at 53-38. A fast-break layup by Gartrell at 7:11 cut GT’s lead to six at 53-47, but Nnamaka responded by calmly knocking down a three on the next possession.
Zullo hit a trey of her own on a beautiful pass from Whittington inside at 1:58, inching the Pack to within seven at 61-54. State eventually got to within three of the lead at 64-61 with 35.1 seconds remaining, but Williams hit three free throws down the stretch to fend off the Pack’s sabotage effort.
NC State will return to the hardwood this Sunday, Jan. 20, against Duke in Durham, N.C. Tip off is slated for 1 p.m.
Frank Duke contributed to this report.
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