North Carolina State University Athletics
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Protective Pack Rolls over No. 13 Heels, 88-72
2/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2011
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RALEIGH, N.C. - Through all the difficulties of her second season as head coach of the NC State women's basketball team, Kellie Harper kept promising her team that something good was just over the horizon.
Monday night, it not only came into view, it also became a reality as the unranked Wolfpack upended No. 13 North Carolina, 88-72, at Reynolds Coliseum.
Along the way, Harper's team - dwindled down to just seven primary players because various illnesses and injuries throughout this season - committed a total of four turnovers in the contest, the fewest since NC State began sponsoring a varsity women's basketball program in 1974-75.
"We have been telling our kids all year to hang in there, we were going to get a big win, just keep fighting," said an ebullient Harper, who celebrated by screaming into the courtside microphone as students and fans stormed Kay Yow Court. "I thanked them after the game for believing and for having faith in what our staff was saying.
"It finally paid off tonight."
The Wolfpack used two enormous scoring runs, one of 21-0 in the first half and one of 22-6 in the second half, to topple the Heels. Senior guard Amber White, playing in the next-to-last home game of her career, was the leader, scoring a game-high 23 points.
Senior Brittany Strachan, junior Bonae Holston and freshman Kody Burke added 13 points apiece. Strachan scored most of her points by making three of her four 3-point shots, including the basket with 9:22 remaining in the game that gave her team the lead for good.
That shot came at the end of what turned out to be the most critical possession of the game, as North Carolina tried to put the exclamation point on its 13-1 run to retake the lead, 55-52, thanks primarily to a trio of 3-pointers by Tar Heel junior She'la White.
The Pack cut the lead to one on a drive by freshman Breezy Williams, but the Tar Heels took four shots on its next possession in the hope of rebuilding a lead that had been as big as seven points in the first half. But after Waltiea Rolle grabbed the fourth offensive rebound of the possession, NC State sophomore Marissa Kastanek stripped the ball out of her hands and threw it to Strachan, who easily swished the go-ahead basket.
"I thought it was going in as soon as it hit her hands," Amber White said of her teammate's shot. "When I saw that pass, I said, `Oh, she needs to shoot this one.' She got another shot after that and I was like, `Yeah, it's time to make our run.'"
And that's exactly what the Wolfpack did, outscoring the Tar Heels 36-17 over the game's final nine minutes. The 88 points were NC State's most against UNC since a 96-76 victory in 2000.
"There was a different look in their faces coming down the stretch of this game," Harper said. "I had all the confidence in the world in these kids tonight."
The outcome was rather gut-wrenching, as the Pack fell behind early, took a big lead before intermission, gave it back early in the second and built it one more time over the last nine minutes of the game.
The Wolfpack still had a comfortable 51-42 lead with 14:33 remaining in the game, after freshman Myisha Goodwin-Coleman hit a 16-foot jumper just in front of the Wolfpack bench. But the Tar Heels blazed back with their big run to retake the lead.
"We knew we weren't going to hold them to zero points," Amber White said. "We just had to withstand the run and come back with our own."
But it wasn't necessarily easy with a lineup in which the five starters played a minimum of 28 minutes, with only two substitutes reaching double-figure minutes played. But it was the deeper Tar Heels who fought fatigue.
"I thought [North Carolina] got tired," Harper said. "Our kids did too. I just told our kids they had to gut it out."
The Pack was certainly inspired by Strachan's shot, in the early part of the run that finished off the Heels. The points came quickly on the break and slowly at the free-throw line, but the capper was Amber White's circus baseline jumper at the 6:56 that sent the Reynolds Coliseum crowd into a frenzy.
UNC (22-5, 8-4) led by as many as seven points in the early part of the first half, as the Wolfpack started slowly out of the gate. When Italee Lucas scored on a fastbreak basket with 9:19 remaining, UNC owned a 24-17 advantage.
But White started the Wolfpack first decisive run, scoring nine points and assisting on another basket in an 11-0 run. The Wolfpack followed with 10 more unanswered points, taking a 38-24 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by freshman Goodwin-Coleman and Strachan.
The Tar Heels finally scored again on a layup by Cetera DeGraffenreid with 4:52 remaining in the half and UNC managed to cut that lead in half with a couple of 3-pointers and a few hustle plays.
But the Wolfpack scored seven of the final 10 points of the first half to take a 45-33 lead into intermission, thanks to a pair of shots by Holston sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Burke.
"Our mentality was very good going into this game," Harper said. "We weren't going to back down. We kept our foot on the gas pedal. With about four minutes to play, we were still attacking."
Both coaches were amazed that the Wolfpack only committed four miscues in the entire game. The previous program low was five turnovers in two other games.
"I don't know if I have ever played a team with only four turnovers," said North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, in her 25th season as the coach of the Heels. "That's pretty impressive right there."
For Harper, it was impressive because she had instructed her players to be aggressive. No offensive fouls and just two miscues in each half. And both of the second-half turnovers came late in the game, after the outcome was essentially decided.
"That's just an amazing job on our kids' part," Harper said. "Our game plan was to keep our kids out of trouble. We wanted to let them make plays, just not plays that would be hard for them to make, if that makes sense."
The Wolfpack will play its final home game of the season and celebrate Senior Night Thursday, as it hosts Boston College in a 7 p.m. contest at Reynolds Coliseum.
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
