On the heels of a 2-1 run in the ACC Tournament, the NC State women’s basketball team is a four seed in the Kansas City region of the women’s NCAA Tournament and will be hosting the Raleigh regional.
The Wolfpack (24-8, 11-5 ACC) entered the ACC Tournament as a projected five seed according to ESPN women’s bracketologist Charlie Creme, but used a quarterfinals win over then-projected four-seed Duke to move up a seed line.
In the first round of the tournament, NC State will host 13-seed and fellow Raleigh school Elon.
The Phoenix (25-7) enters the tournament as an automatic qualifier by way of winning the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship in dominating fashion. In its three wins in the tournament, Elon had an average margin of victory of 17 points.
Elon is led by senior guard Shay Burnett, who leads the Phoenix in points, rebounds and assists. Burnett is averaging 13.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game on the year.
Defense could prove key for the Wolfpack in its first round matchup. Elon is not a great 3-point shooting team, knocking down only 31.4 percent of its shots from beyond the arc as a team. The Phoenix has just one player, forward Meme Garner, hitting more than 39 percent of her 3s.
If the stingy Wolfpack defense is able to limit the Phoenix’s efficiency around the rim, there will be little else for the layup-heavy offense of Elon to fall back on.
In the second round, the Wolfpack could be facing the winner of five-seed Maryland and 12-seed Princeton.
Maryland (25-7) finished second in the Big Ten, falling to Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Terrapins went 2-4 against ranked teams, with two of those losses coming against top-five teams UCONN and South Carolina.
The Terrapins are led by guard Kaila Charles, who is averaging 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and leads the team in both of those categories. Maryland’s size could cause some problems for the Pack; only two players on the roster are below 6-foot.
Princeton (24-5) enters the tournament as an automatic qualifier due to its dominance in winning the Ivy League. The Tigers lost to Villanova in their only game against a ranked team, but come into the tournament on fire, winning 18 of its last 20 games, including a 29-point win over Penn in the Ivy League Championship Game.
The Tigers are led by guard/forward Bella Alarie, who averages 13.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game while blocking 2.6 shots per game, leading the team in all three of those categories.
