Prior to beginning the 2009-2010 regular season, the Wolfpack women’s basketball were selected to finish in the bottom third of the ACC at ninth out of twelve teams. Those on the outside looking in felt that the odds were stacked against the team. The women had just welcomed a new coach in the spring following a winter of turmoil, including the loss of legendary coach Kay Yow and her successor assistant coach Stephanie Glance.
On her first official day as a member of the Wolfpack, head coach Kellie Harper, who appeared in all-red attire, said “We want to consistently win and compete for championships.”
Harper wasted no time campaigning towards her goals as she led State to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2007 and to the conference title game. The Wolfpack women performed well above expectations by advancing with three wins in three days to the ACC Tournament Championship Final. There they fell just short to top-seeded Duke, 70-60. In the days prior, the Pack was victorious in three tremendously close games, taking down Clemson, 59-54, No. 24 Virginia, 66-59, and Boston College, 63-57.
The road to Greensboro was not an easy journey for the Pack. But the team rose to the challenge. Entering the final stretch of the regular season in February with a 12-10 record, the team wanted to make a push to finish strong for a higher ACC tournament seeding. The regular season ended with a bang, as the team went 5-2 for the month, rounding out senior night in a 56-54 victory over No. 22 Georgia Tech. It was the first time that this year’s seniors had defeated the Yellow Jackets.
Following the end of the regular season, freshman stand-out Marissa Kastanek was named 2010 ACC Freshman of the Year. She had also received ACC Rookie of the Week honors three times.
Senior guard Nikitta Gartrell, who has been coached by Kay Yow, Stephanie Glance, and now Harper, has been through each triumph and heartbreak that the close-knit team has experienced during her tenure at State. She said that in her first year Harper has set the bar high and she has great expectations for the team next season.
“I feel like my teammates that I helped to lead this year will do their role and play their part next year” Gartrell said. “They have the potential to win the ACC and advance in the NCAA Tournament again.”
Consistent, competitive performance was one of Harper’s top goals for the Wolfpack, but it wasn’t the only one. Another aim of Harper’s was to “beat our neighbors that wear various shades of blue.”
She has already begun to chip away at State’s Tobacco Road rivals. The Pack split the season series with the Tarheels after a 74-63 victory on the road at Chapel Hill. It was the first time the team defeated the Tarheels since 2007 and the first time since a win in Carmichael Auditorium since 2004. Based on a closely-contested ten point loss to Duke in the championship, Harper and company may have Duke’s number and will look to defeat Duke in the upcoming season for the first time since 2007.
Redshirt sophomore guard Emili Tasler will be stepping up into a veteran role next season and, like Gartrell, has a vision for the team that surpasses their outstanding season.
“I definitely think we can make it to the NCAA tournament and compete. We’re going to work out this entire off-season and in the summertime,” Tasler said. “I know we’re going to be that much better.”
Both Gartell and Tasler spoke highly of the incoming class of recruits, which showcase three strong guards and one post player .
The winds of change welcomed Harper to Raleigh, where her positive coaching tactics and tough-love approach was accepted and appreciated by her players, including Gartrell.
“She brought energy. Someone finally let us play to our own advantage,” Gartrell said. “We’re a running team, which is how she likes to play, so that let us show our other talents, aside from setting plays and the usual stuff.”
Harper instilled a renewed sense of confidence in the Wolfpack women.
“We really, really work hard, not that we didn’t before, or that other coaches didn’t want us to do that,” Tasler said. “But she brought that here. Coach Harper made us believe in ourselves. No one thought we were going to make it as far as we did.”
