The happiness that NC State sports generated this weekend was so surprising that it took a little bit for it all to sink in!
In addition to the Wolfpack’s big win over Wake Forest in the RBC on Saturday, NC State’s Baseball team set a record for runs in a series with a three game sweep of LaSalle (click here for story).
Not to be out done, we didn’t want to ignore Coach Kellie Harper’s huge win in her first visit to Chapel Hill this weekend. (At least one of our basketball programs can take advantage of Carolina’s problems this season).
Sophomore Bonae Holston scored a team-high 20 points to send NC State to an important 74-63 victory at North Carolina on Sunday afternoon at Carmichael Arena.
NC State (16-11, 6-6 ACC) won its third-straight game, and second this weekend, behind Holston’s game-high 20, 17 points from ACC Rookie of the Year candidate Marissa Kastanek, 15 from junior reserve Brittany Strachan and 10 from Amber White.
Cetera DeGraffenreid had a game-high 22 points to pace North Carolina (17-9, 5-7 ACC), who lost for the sixth time in the last seven games and is unranked for the first time since 2001. Italee Lucas added 15 points for the Tar Heels.
NC State went scoreless the opening 6:29 of the second half – allowing UNC to build a 44-37 lead. The Pack regained its footing on enemy territory after consecutive buckets by Holston and the team in red was down just three, 45-42, with just under 12 minutes to play.
The message board community already opened a thread on this topic yesterday and can be seen by clicking here. ‘Pack Howler’ summarized the current situation for the ladies as follows:
The women are currently tied for 5th in the conference at 6-6. The final two games against our closest competition (@ Wake, who we’re tied with, and GT, who is 4th) so they’ll have heavy impact on where we’ll finally rest. Either way, the team should over-achieve their preseason prediction of 9th.
A handful of narrow losses are the only thing that’s keeping the team from being a lock for the tournament. The 1-pt loss at #14 Georgetown and 3-pt loss at #10 FSU really hurt and leave us on the bubble (and on the “First Teams Out” list on ESPN’s prediction bracket). At the very least, they should get a Women’s NIT invite with a potentially high seed and home-field advantage.
