The NC State women’s basketball team looks to build on last weekend’s exhibition win in its first string of non-conference games, beginning with a Friday home matchup against Tennessee State.

The Pack plays three teams in the next week and two more after that before the Junkanoo Jam tournament on the Grand Bahama Island at the end of the month.

As a Division I-AA school in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Tigers went 12-28 overall last season but 9-7 in conference play. They dominated their exhibition against Tennessee Temple, 109-57. 

Although the Tigers don’t necessarily represent fierce competition due to their status as an AA team, the Pack can’t take them for granted if it looks to fix some of the errors committed in the exhibition game last Friday. 

“We have a lot of things to work on,” sophomore guard Miah Spencer said. “We had an off night shooting, and we had some mishaps on defense and with the communication.”

The Pack had particularly strong performances from Spencer, who put up a team-high 15 points and was all over the court, and junior forward Carlee Schuhmacher, who put up 14 points and six rebounds and was a dominant presence in the post. Schuhmacher started at center for the exhibition game, and she will probably get some help in the post once freshman center Akela Maize returns from injury.

“We’re going to need Carlee to step up, as we had some great losses from last year,” Head Coach Wes Moore said after the game. “Akela Maize is out with an injury, and hopefully we’ll get her back next week. She’s a freshman with good length at 6-foot-5 and is very athletic, so hopefully she will give us some depth at the post position.”

On Sunday, the Pack will face a slightly stronger team in the Coppin State Eagles. Another Division I-AA school out of Baltimore, Maryland, the Eagles went 17-14 last season and made it to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship. 

On Tuesday, the Pack will travel to Charlotte for its first away game of the season. The 49ers went 15-16 overall and 9-7 in conference last season en route to making a Women’s National Invitational Tournament bid. This could be the most intriguing matchup of the three games due to the local ties between the teams and fans. 

While these three games might not be as noteworthy as games against North Carolina and Duke later in the season, they are equally as important for the Pack because the sooner the problems are fixed, the sooner the Pack will be ready to compete with the powerhouse conference rivals.