North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
14-16 (4-10ACC)
Boston College
18-12 (5-9ACC)
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| NC State | 27 | 44 | 71 |
| Boston College | 32 | 38 | 70 |
Pack Comes Back, Takes 71-70 Win Over BC
3/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 3, 2011
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
NC State Postgame Press Conference
Boston College Postgame Press Conference
GREENSBORO, N.C. - For a team with a short bench and few players to spare, the prospect of playing a full-court zone press for most of a 40-minute basketball game might seem overwhelming.
But twice when the NC State women’s basketball team fell behind by double figures to Boston College in the opening round of the 2011 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament, second-year coach Kellie Harper called for one of three different full-court presses to put the clamps on the Eagles.
The Wolfpack was rewarded in the end with a 71-70 victory at the Greensboro Coliseum, thanks to a pair of free throws by senior Brittany Strachan with 14.3 seconds to play. Junior Bonae Holston led her team with 21 points, while sophomore Marissa Kastanek added 15 and senior Amber White had 14.
“Our kids don’t quit,” Harper said. “I’m so happy that our kids are finally rewarded with a close win. This is our first close win all season.”
The Wolfpack started slowly to open the game, as Boston College built a 24-9 lead in the first 11 minutes. Harper called for her team to begin pressing the Eagles, who owned a significant height advantage with 6-6 center Carolyn Swords and 6-4 forward Stefanie Murphy. That defensive pressure negated BC’s size differential and allowed NC State to claw its way back to just a 32-27 halftime deficit.
Then in the second half, as the Eagles began pulling away with another 14-point lead behind Swords’ game-high 27 points, the Wolfpack began pressing again, forcing the Eagles to commit turnover after turnover, usually just after breaking the press. The Pack defense that created a total of 25 turnovers in the contest inspired a 12-0 run that tied the game at 55-55 with 8:57 remaining in the game and set up the Pack’s biggest comeback of the season.
“It was a great feeling to know our defense led the way,” White said.
The Wolfpack (14-16 overall) not only grabbed the lead, but twice extended it to as many as four points down the stretch.
But the seventh-seeded Eagles (18-12) battled back, thanks to an unlikely 3-pointer from Murphy with less than a minute to play, her 20th of the season. A pair of free throws by sophomore Kerri Shields gave Boston College the lead again with 25.8 seconds on the clock.
The Wolfpack got the ball inside to Holston for a potential game-winner, but her shot bounced off the back of the rim. Senior Brittany Strachan, known for making heady plays throughout her career, was in perfect position to grab the offensive rebound. She was fouled as she went up to take the lead, but easily hit her two free throws to give her team the 71-70 final margin with 14.3 seconds to play.
“All I could think of when I saw [Holston’s] shot come off the rim was ‘I have to get that rebound,’” Strachan said. “I was fortunate that it came right to me. I didn’t even think about the free throws, but I was awfully relieved when the second one went down.”
Strachan’s two shots capped off an 8-for-8 performance at the line in the last five minutes for the Wolfpack.
Boston College called timeout to set up a final shot, but Murphy’s baseline jumper from the corner hit the side of the backboard and she was unable to get off another shot before the buzzer sounded.
“I was a little concerned that we weren’t going to be able to keep up with the energy we needed to run the full-court press,” said Harper, who now owns a 4-1 record in her two ACC Tournaments as NC State’s head coach. “I’m just proud of our kids for continuing to dig deep and find that energy.”
But will this win kick off another deep run into the tournament? Maybe if the ruby-red high heels Harper wore Thursday night and in several other big victories have turned into a good-luck charm for a team that has suffered through mostly bad luck all season.
“I would love it if Cinderella wore red heels,” Harper said. “Our team has a lot of confidence right now and it should. No team in this league has been tested the way we have.”
And she isn’t worried about the impact of playing so many minutes of full-court pressure defense will have in Friday evening’s quarterfinal game against Miami, which will tip off at 6 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum.
“I told our kids coming in, no matter what happened, that they would find the energy they needed for the next play, the next possession and the next game,” Harper said. “You can’t get to Game 2 without winning Game 1, so we did what we needed to do.
“I have a lot of confidence that we will come out with a lot of energy on Friday.”
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
