Caide Wooten
Junior guard Myisha Goodwin-Coleman prepares to drive past Virginia Tech's Monet Tellier in Reynolds Coliseum, Jan. 24. The Wolfpack women captured their first conference win Thursday night, defeating the Hokies 58-39. The victory puts the Pack at 9-11 overall, and 1-7 in the ACC. Photo by Caide Wooten.
N.C. State women’s basketball (9-11, 1-7 ACC) has found itself back on the winning side as it defeated the Virginia Tech Lady Hokies (7-11, 1-6 ACC), 58-39. This improves the Lady Wolfpack’s record to 14-0 all-time against the Hokies.
Virginia Tech was the first unranked opponent State had faced at home since it beat Presbyterian on Dec. 15. This win gives the team its first victory since Dec. 30 and its first win against a conference opponent.
“The weight is off their shoulders,” head coach Kellie Harper said. “You never take a win for granted. Right now, it has been hard to come by. We are really happy to walk out of here with a win.”
Junior guard Myisha Goodwin-Coleman led the way for State with 12 points, three assists and three steals. Senior guard Marissa Kastanek tacked on an additional 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
“This was our payoff game,” Kastanek said. “It really made us want to get back into the gym and continue to do what we are doing. There is no reason why we cannot go on a winning streak.”
Junior forward Breezy Williams led the team in rebounds with seven. After Kastanek’s six, junior forward Kody Burke, redshirt sophomore guard Len’Nique Brown, freshman guard Ashley Eli and junior center Markeisha Gatling each grabbed four missed shots.
Burke had seven points in the contest while Gatling and Eli finished the game with six apiece. Brown scored four and led the team in assists and steals with three for both statistics along with Goodwin-Coleman.
“Everybody played with confidence,” Goodwin-Coleman said.
“This proves how we have to play and how we have to win games,” Kastanek added. “I think that it is important that everyone gets involved.”
State exploded from the gate, beginning the game with a 16-0 run in the first seven minutes of the game. The Hokies managed to reduce that deficit to 12 points at halftime and to as few as nine within the first half.
Once the second half began, the Pack never led by less than 10 points and was winning by a 20-point margin with 35 seconds remaining in the game.
The Lady Pack held the Hokies’ starters to only one point in the first half. Virginia Tech’s top scorer, junior guard Monet Tellier, banked 13 points off of the bench. The Hokies finished the game with only 15 points from their starters.
Virginia Tech shot 26.4 percent from the floor, the lowest the Lady Pack has held an opponent this season. State completed 36.4 percent of its shots, including seven made three-point shots out of 12, the highest percentage beyond the arc this season for State. Goodwin-Coleman, Kastanek and Eli each made two of those.
The Lady Pack will travel to Georgia Tech to take on the Lady Yellow Jackets on Jan. 27. State will return to Reynolds Coliseum for “Pack the House” on Feb. 3 when Wake Forest comes to Raleigh.
“The drought is over,” Kastanek said.