After trailing for the majority of the first half, the Wolfpack Women completed a second half comeback, which included a 16-1 run in the final five minutes of the game, to seal the victory against the Clemson Tigers, 56-45, in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
State has won four consecutive first round ACC Tournament games.
The Tigers came out of the gates stifling the Pack’s offense. Clemson forced 11 turnovers in the opening half. It was able to create seven points off of State’s mental lapses.
Head coach Kellie Harper showed the Tigers different defensive looks, including a full court press and half court zone. Despite that, Clemson was able to hit contested jump shots and score six second chance points. Nikki Dixon led the Tigers in scoring at the half with 11 points.
The lead exchanged hands five times in the half until Clemson broke out to an 8-1 run with eight minutes left in the game to gain control.
Junior forward Kody Burke was able to get the Wolfpack back on track when she hit a turn-around jump shot. She was fouled on the attempt and finished the three-point-play. Burke led the Pack in scoring in the half with seven points.
From then the Tigers were able to maintain control. They went into the locker room with a three-point lead, 29-26, at the half.
“We were definitely a little tight on the offensive end and sometimes you see that in the first round games,” Harper said. “Hopefully we’ve got the first our jitters out of us.”
The upperclassmen, Burke and senior guard Marissa Kastanek, led the charge in the second half for the Pack. The two combined for 18 points in the period. The comeback was sparked by Burke’s layup that gave the Wolfpack the lead, 32-31.
“In the second half our shots started going in a lot more and we just played the way we love to play and not really play timid,” Burke said.
Clemson regained a four-point lead with more than five minutes left in the game, but Dixon was hit with her third foul of the game, which put her on the bench until the final two minutes of the contest. State shut her out in the second half.
“I thought we had some possession where we did a good job on her in the second half,” Harper said. “To be honest, she still got some good looks in the second half and just didn’t knock them down.”
The Pack took advantage of her absence with a charge of its own. It was able to get into the bonus with five minutes left on the clock and capitalized by scoring on four straight free throws to tie the game at 44.
From then the Wolfpack went on a 12-1 run to seal the game. Junior guard Myisha Goodwin-Coleman put the dagger in Clemson’s hopes when she rebounded her own missed free throw attempt, drew the foul and hit the ensuing free throws on the same possession to put State up by 10 points.
“During that stretch, the last thing I wanted our player to do was panic but we really had to start moving and put a press on. We got to the free throw line, I thought that was key,” Harper said. “We played with some toughness, made a couple shots that were big.”
State has advanced to get a third shot at rival Duke in the second round of the tournament at 2p.m. Friday in Greensboro Coliseum.
Harper was able to pull off a bit of March Madness last season when she guided the Wolfpack to a win against Duke in last season’s installment of the ACC Tournament. With that win, the Pack became the first No. 9 seed to defeat a No. 1 in the tournament.
“Duke’s a rival team and anytime you play a rival team you’re only going to be energized and excited for the game,” Burke said.
“I look at it as another opportunity to wear a N.C. State uniform, so I’m very happy and excited to play tomorrow,” Kastanek said on playing to see another game in her final season with the Pack.
