As the Wolfpack women prepare to close out their season, they see their postseason hopes are hanging in the balance. State sports a 14-11 record, which members of the selection committee may see as under par for a successful tournament resume.
But the Pack is 44th in the RPI rankings and ranked seventh in the ACC with a 4-6 record, and the top six seeds in the ACC tournament receive a first round bye.
State’s remaining games are against Boston College, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. One scenario head coach Kellie Harper addressed is the fact that the Pack might have to win out the rest of the ACC schedule to build up for a tournament resume.
“I think for our players right now, we can still finish the season strong if we are able to continue to win some games left on our schedule,” Harper said. “If we don’t, we do have some pressure going into the tournament that we need to win some games and possibly win out to have a bid to the NCAA tournament.”
A major obstacle for the Pack in its bid to make a postseason tournament is the absence of forward Tia Bell, who sprained her ACL and has sat out four games. She is averaging 7.19 points per game, a career high, and is leading the team in blocks, averaging 1.2 per game.
A timetable for her return has not been set as of yet.
“We’re hoping that we’ll get to start Tia some on the court this week. We don’t have a set time frame yet. A lot of that will depend on how she responds when she gets back on the court,” Harper said.
The players and Harper know that the loss of Bell will have a significant impact on the remainder of the season.
“I think just getting Tia back will help our team’s confidence,” Harper said. “It will give us an energy boost. You know, maybe it will not be as much physically initially, but mentally. Anytime you get a player back who had been productive all season, I think it gives you a boost.”
Forward Bonae Holston mirrored Harper’s thoughts, stating the team is lacking without Bell.
“She’s like the starter coming off the bench. Probably, [against] most teams, she would start,” Holston said. “And I think now that she’s hurt that we have to find somebody else or even the people who are already playing. Somebody has to pick up for her loss.”
If in fact State managed to win out without Bell, it would be able to finish above .500 with an 8-6 conference record. After a 66-64 win against Miami, State resumed a big push forward to making the tournament.
The team currently has a 2-8 road record, but it has beaten two teams that have a legitimate shot at making the NCAA, Wake Forest and Maryland.
“There’s still opportunities for us to do very well and finish with a good record, but we just have to get it done game by game. We have to focus on one at a time,” guard Kim Durham said.
