©2009 NCSU Student Media
Boston College defeated the women's basketball team 62-51 Thursday night.
In front of a very loud crowd of Wolfpack fans wearing pink, the women’s basketball team struggled early, but fought back in an unforgettable second half that saw the team cut a seemingly insurmountable 31 point lead all the way down to single figures, before finally falling by a final score of 62-51 to Boston College.
Interim coach Stephanie Glance described how proud she was of her team’s effort, particularly in the second half.
“I’m really proud of this team, they wanted to win this game more than probably any game in their entire life,” Glance said. “They gave a tremendous effort in the second half.”
The team seemed overwhelmed early on by a Boston College team that combined a suffocating defense that limited State to less than 15 percent shooting with 50 percent shooting of its own to take a commanding 36-15 into the locker room at halftime.
And though the Pack trailed by 21 at the half, it was not for lack of effort. According to Glance, the team played hard, but simply could not get into rhythm in the first half.
“You’re sitting there thinking, we are really off, on both ends of the floor right now,” Glance said. “And [we were thinking,] there’s nothing we can do about it, so we just played through it.”
The team turned the game around in the second half behind strong play from its lone senior, guard Shayla Fields, who passed Connie Rogers to move into twentieth place all-time in scoring.
Behind the support of a raucous crowd, State did a tremendous job overcoming the offensive and defensive struggles of the first half, holding BC to 33 percent shooting from the field with zero three-pointers, while shooting 37 percent from the field and 46 percent from three point range.
After the game, coach Glance praised the fans for the unwavering support they gave in the face of such a large deficit.
“The crowd was unbelievable, Glance said. “It was like we were up by 20 or it was a one point game and we were down by 25 points.”
And while the final outcome was certainly not what the team entered the game looking for, Fields felt that the team gave a second half effort that would have made their revered leader proud.
“Coach Yow would have been proud of us in the second half for battling back,” she said.