Freshman guard Nikitta Gartrell went 9-for-10 from the field and scored 20 points in her N.C. State debut to lead all scorers as the women’s basketball team cruised to a 76-53 victory over Premier Players in its only exhibition game of the season.

Coach Kay Yow said Gartrell’s offensive numbers were somewhat of a surprise, but a pleasant one.

“Scoring wise it’s a little above and over what we’ve seen in practice. But then you got to know some people are gamers. And their sharpness is a little more when the game comes along,” Yow said. “I’m hoping that’s what it is right here and she’s ready. I like the way she pushed the ball down the floor and she helped us on defense. And she was the second leading rebounder.”

But Gartrell is only one of six freshmen on the roster which, according to Yow, will have to contribute for the team to be successful. Freshmen Megan Zullo, Sharnise Beal and Lucy Ellison all played double digit minutes in the game with Zullo scoring 10 points on 2-for-4 shooting from the 3-point line.

“We’re having to play a lot of freshman a lot of minutes,” the coach said. “So it’s a matter of their growing and just continuing to get better and I really believe they will. Just a few months ago they were high school seniors and playing a completely different level. And now we’re asking them to step up their focus. Everything has to be so much sharper … it’s a lot of adjustment for them.”

The potential of the freshmen to improve and be a major factor this season, has not gone unnoticed by the veteran players either.

“[We have] huge potential really, especially our freshmen,” senior guard Ashley Key said. “It showed a lot potential that our freshman can help us. And that we can go pretty deep in our rotation. Since we’re going to be a running team we know that if we get tired we can call for a sub and somebody will be able to come in and do the exact same thing.”

Junior forward Khadijah Whittington said the freshmen played well in their first game against someone other than themselves.

“All the freshmen got pretty good minutes and they made the most of their minutes,” Whittington said.

But all the freshmen didn’t play. Freshman center Chanita Jordan missed the game due to injury along with seniors Gillian Goring and Danielle Wilhelm.

Yow said having players out with injury puts pressure on all the players to step up, especially the players in the paint.

“We’re just going to have to have more help on the boards,” she said. “There’s other people that’s got to step up. We got people that can leap and go to the boards.”

Yow added she hopes to get Jordan and Goring back soon to help with the lack of presence down low.

“When we get back somebody like [Goring] at 6’7″ in the middle, that could help with some intimidation,” Yow said. “And I think that’ll happen at some point. And she’ll be able to help us when we have to go against a lot of height. She’s making steady progress. And [Chanita Jordan] with her stress fracture is making a lot progress too. She’s feeling a lot better.”

On the defensive side, the Wolfpack forced 30 turnovers and held Premier Players to just 18.2 percent shooting from the field. But despite the gaudy stats, Yow was still not satisfied with how the team played.

“The defense is nowhere where I want it. There’s a lot I want to improve on that defensive end. But they were active and we’re hustling and giving a great effort. And we had some quick hands … I like the way they fly around.”

State next plays High Point to open the regular season Thursday, Nov. 9 at Reynolds Coliseum.

As for what the players learned about the team form its lone tune-up game, Whittington said, “It showed us the things we need to work on.”