After a 2014 season brimming with success, the NC State women’s basketball team saw its win total drop seven games, resulting in an 18-15 record this season.
Some members of Wolfpack Nation might perceive the team’s most recent campaign as a disappointment or even a failure. However, the team faced a great deal of adversity even before the season started but was still able to salvage a winning season, making the best out of a bad situation.
One of the most glaring obstacles came up at the end of last season—the team had six players graduate. Of those six, three were starters.
Two former Wolfpackers, center Markeisha Gatling and forward Kody Burke, were fortunate enough to be selected in the WNBA Draft, and Gatling was snatched as the No. 10 overall pick.
The Pack was able to replace those players from a numbers standpoint with the additions of four freshmen: guard Chloe Jackson, forward Chelsea Nelson and centers Akela Maize and Sara Boric.
The team also added a junior college transfer in forward Carlee Schuhmacher and redshirt sophomore Dominique Wilson, who sat out the previous year after transferring from Arkansas.
It was then, when things were looking bright, that injuries began to plague the team.
First, Boric was forced to take a redshirt year after being declared ineligible by the NCAA due to issues with her transfer papers from Bosnia. Then, Maize suffered an ankle injury that held her to 17 games on the season. After that, Jackson suffered a season-ending ankle injury, playing in just four games.
With those three experiencing complications, Nelson was the only freshman to play in all 33 games and just one of six players to do so, as the injuries didn’t stop there.
Senior guard and team captain Krystal Barrett suffered a season-ending ACL injury on Dec. 17, leaving the team without a player head coach Wes Moore recognized as its best free throw shooter, offensive rebounder and perimeter defender.
In early February, junior forward Ashley Eli tore her Achilles’ tendon, leaving NC State with seven scholarship athletes and nine total players on its active roster.
With injuries playing their part, the Pack went on a skid where it lost five of six games in a three-week conference span, creating a hole that seemed almost too deep for the team to dig its way out.
State was able to break the skid with a win against Wake Forest on Feb. 8, pushing the momentum back in its favor. The Pack went on to win four of its next five games, none of them bigger than an upset over No. 10 Duke.
However, just as things started to finally look up for the Pack, it had to face two top-10 teams within a week of beating Duke: No. 9 Florida State and No. 4 Notre Dame.
The team dropped its final two regular season games, and hopes of a NCAA Tournament berth were thrown out the window with a first round ACC Tournament loss against an underrated Virginia Tech team.
While it’s easy to look at things the team wasn’t able to accomplish, the Pack ended its season strong and with much to look forward to.
NC State showed flashes of potential all season, beginning with a win against a strong tournament team in Miami, in which the Pack overcame a halftime deficit of 18, its largest second half comeback in recent memory. Next game, it continued its hot streak to upset No. 10 Duke.
Two games later, Barrett entered the court in the season finale and hit a three with a torn ACL in the final basket in the pre-renovated Reynolds Coliseum. The Pack advanced to the third round of the WNIT in its fifth appearance in the tournament. Moore eclipsed the 600-win mark as a head coach in his second season with the team. These flashes give the team confidence to build on going into the upcoming seasons.
Although State will lose valuable assets in Barrett and senior guard Len’Nique Brown-Hoskin, it brings back its leading scorers in Wilson and sophomore guard Miah Spencer, who averaged 13.8 and 14.0 points per game, respectively.
Sophomore forward Jennifer Mathurin, Schuhmacher and Nelson will continue to make their presence known in the post, while Jackson and Boric will each have four more years of eligibility after being redshirted. The team will also welcome six freshmen recruits, four of whom were ESPNU HoopGurlz 100 Players.
The bottom line is that this was a transition year for the Wolfpack. The program has plenty of talented players coming in, the proper leadership among the players and a top-notch coaching staff—enough for NC State women’s basketball team to enjoy success in the upcoming years.
