The women’s basketball team is heading up to Chestnut Hill Thursday, hoping to bounce back from last Friday’s 83-76 loss in Chapel Hill and pick to up it’s first ACC road win against the Boston College Eagles.
Sitting at 9-8 (1-2 in the ACC), State needs to turn up the tempo and win some basketball games if it has NCAA aspirations.
The Eagles, 14-4 (1-2 in ACC), are also looking to redeem themselves after suffering a tough loss to the Miami Hurricanes in a 65-53 contest. State’s last meeting with the Eagles came during the 2010 ACC Tournament, where the Pack defeated Boston College in a 73-62 contest.
The Pack’s defense will need to step up during this contest. State’s scoring defense is ranked eleventh in the conference, giving up 66.6 points pert game and is going up against the Eagles’ offense, which is averaging 83.1 points per game, second best in the conference.
Boston College also has four players on their roster who are averaging in double figures in scoring, but the team is lead by senior Carolyn Swords, who is averaging over 17 points per game this season, third best in the ACC.
Sophomore guard Marissa Kastanek could potentially put a dent in these figures following tonight. Against UNC, Kastanek scored a career high 30 points and made six 3-pointers in the game. With the Pack sporting a 1-2 ACC record early into conference play, she knows the importance of bouncing back in such a tough conference.
“The Clemson game kind of opened some people’s eyes as to which the ACC truly is,” Kastanek said. “I think now nothing is going to come as a surprise as to how physical it is, how quick it is and how intense this part of the season is. It’s important to gain our confidence because without confidence a lot of things just don’t go well.”
With 14 wins by the Eagles, the ACC is no slouch of a conference. Five teams in the conference are currently ranked in the top-25 polls.
Senior guard Amber White cites the competitive nature of the conference as a primary reason she came to the University.
“This is one of the reasons why I came to the ACC and why I came to State, to be a part of this,” White said. “It’s very exciting knowing that you’re facing ranked opponents and you have an opportunity to be on that stage”
White also understands the importance of coming together early in the conference schedule and not falling behind in the conference standings, like previous teams have done.
“Talking about our teams in the past years and even other teams, we like to make it hard on ourselves and play catch-up,” White said. “I think having a great start will carry us over and continue to get better rather than going back and forth. I think the most important thing is to get where you’re comfortable rather than fighting to get back to the top.”
Despite the slow start, senior forward Brittany Strachan believes the Pack will be able to replicate its success from last year, starting with this game.
“We never lower our expectations, so we expect to do better,” Strachan said. “It’s definitely critical. Conference play is the pivotal point of the season. It defines what you’re going to do after. To reach those postseason goals you definitely have to do well in the conference. So it’s definitely important to get a good start confidence wise and building that momentum.”
For the Pack, this game will be critical to building momentum going into the bulk of their conference schedule and playing tough opponents such as Duke, Miami and Florida State over their next three games, so a win against Boston College is critical.
