Junior guard Marissa Kastanek was honored for her milestone achievement of scoring over 1,000 points for the women’s basketball team Friday at Reynolds Coliseum.
State would open the game playing superb defense, causing the Seminoles of Florida State to turn the ball over excessively. The Pack would charge ahead with a 6-0 run off of buckets from senior forward Bonae Holston . Both Kastanek and sophomore guard Myisha Goodwin-Coleman would pump up the crowd with a couple of baskets of their own.
State would later slip defensively as the Seminoles would take the lead, and from this point, not look back. Missed opportunities by the Pack would allow the Seminoles to take a 9-point lead to head into the second half.
The second half would be a repeat of the first until 10 minutes remained in the game. The Pack would trail by 11 points until Goodwin-Coleman decided enough was enough. Goodwin-Coleman would lead a 7-0 run for the Pack on her own, capitalizing both on free throws and three-point shots, as well.
The Pack would work their way back within 2 points with only 31 seconds remaining in the game. Holston would hit an easy lay-in for State to tie the game with nine seconds left. The Seminoles would then drive down the court and hit a contested three to win the game with a final score of 67-64.
For Sunday’s game against the Hokies of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va ., the Pack looked to avenge the heartbreaker of Friday’s game against FSU.
State would open the game with phenomenal three-point shooting as they would open the game against the Hokies , shooting 3-for-3 from behind the arc. For the opening 8 points of the game, sophomore forward Kody Burke would come up with five of them.
Great transition play from State off of both turnovers and poor shooting from Virginia Tech would give the Pack a comfortable lead. They would hold the lead for the rest of the half. The Hokies would only shoot 21 percent from the field against State’s 50 percent. Great post play by Burke as well as three-point shooting by Goodwin-Coleman and senior guard Emili Tasler would allow State to head into the locker-room ahead by 17 points.
Virginia Tech would open the second half with a 6-0 run as they found a way to keep Kastanek cold from the field. Burke would keep her team alive with baskets of her own including, a three. Better shooting by the Hokies would cut into State’s lead as the Pack would also back off defensively.
Both State and Tech would exchange buckets for the majority of the second half until a star post player fouled out for the Hokies , giving State the mental boost they needed. The Wolfpack would step up defensively and work its way back up to an 18-point lead. Burke would dominate the post and the three-point line as she would finish as leading scorer for State with 20 points.
“Any loss will take a toll on you. You just have to come into each game with a fresh mind,” Burke said. “Today, we just focused only on Virginia Tech. What’s good about the team is the balance, so if one player doesn’t do well, we can score in different ways.”
With 2 minutes remaining, Tech would cut the lead to 11, but the run would be too little, too late as the horn sounded with a final score 65-53 in State’s favor.
Head coach for the Pack, Kellie Harper, had a few words concerning the better performance Sunday compared to Friday.
“It’s amazing what knocking down a few shots early can do for you,” Harper said. “It boosts the confidence of the team and the overall flow for the team. It even helps you on the defensive end. Now we can take a look at what we did today, including what we did well and what worked.”
State next travels to Duluth, Ga., to face off against the Yellow Jackets Thursday.
