Coming off its first loss of the season, a 68-38 loss to No. 12 Purdue Wednesday night, State (2-1) will be playing Wilmington (0-1) tonight in the first game of a double-header that has the men’s team playing Delaware State second.
The Seahawks come into the game having only played one game this season, a 74-46 loss to Greensboro last Sunday.
Wilmington, who is picked to finish sixth in the Colonial Athletic Association this season, returns 12 players from last season’s team that went 15-13 overall and 9-9 in conference play.
The Seahawks are led this season by CAA All-Rookie selection sophomore forward Sahsha Taylor who averaged 12.2 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Their coach Ann Hancock is a former assistant coach of Carolina, having coached there from 1993 – 2000.
Coach Jenny Palmateer expects the Seahawks to play a game that is characteristic of their coach’s style — a style that is very similar to the Heels.
“They like to get out and pressure,” Palmateer said. “They are out in the passing lanes and are going to play an up-tempo game.”
The Pack will be looking to forget its 30-point loss to Purdue from Wednesday night, where they shot 22 percent from the field on 13 of 58 shooting.
Coach Yow said the team had good opportunities to score against the Boilermakers during the game, but just wasn’t able to put the ball in the cylinder mainly because of the players’ style of defense.
“This is a team that played nothing but zone,” Yow said. “We haven’t really worked on playing against a zone as much as we have against man-to-man. Our players just don’t understand the zone concepts very well right now.”
Yow added with having so many young players on this season’s team, the team is only accustomed to playing one style of basketball right now — a very aggressive fast-paced style. She believes this contributed to the Pack’s offensive woes.
“With our young players, we only play in one gear,” Yow said. “That is a good thing on defense because we are flying around everywhere. But on offense we have got to learn to take it down a gear and find a better shot.”
Despite the loss, Yow said there were a few positives to bring away from their game with Purdue — positives that the team will build on in its game against Wilmington.
“To go on a top-10 team’s home court this early in the season with a pro-type player in Katie Geralds, we held them to 34 points each half,” Yow said. “We don’t feel bad about that. We just did not execute offensively.”
Senior guard Ashley Key, who didn’t practice Thursday due to injury, but did play a limited role in the game against Purdue, will be expected to play.
Key, who played 22 minutes, did not score in the game Wednesday, but did play defense against Purdue’s leading scorer senior guard Katie Geralds, who scored 14 points.
Tonight’s game will mark the first women’s game where Reynolds Rowdies, an incentive program aimed at attracting more students to women’s home games, will be in action.
All students attending the game will receive raffle tickets before halftime and will have the chance to win one of 12 movie pass and Sweet Tomato meal-pass combos, and one student will have the opportunity to win a $100 gift certificate to Tony’s Oyster Bar.
Yow encourages all students and fans planning to go to the men’s game to come out early and cheer on the women’s team tonight.
“It’s Friday night. Get the party started early by coming to our game at 6:00 [p.m.],” Yow said. “Come out and have a good time.”