NC State’s women’s club basketball had a successful weekend home at Carmichael Gymnasium. Both teams went undefeated on Saturday and the beginning of Sunday. The team was able to get revenge on Clemson in the championship since the team had previously lost in its first tournament at Clemson this season.
Senior co-captains Sam Olsen and Anna Lavella played for Team White and defeated Clemson 59-34 to win the tournament. Team Black made it to the final four in the tournament before falling to Clemson.
Beginning on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., both teams were off to a great start. Team White and Team Black were both 3-0 on the day to place them in first and second, respectively, by the end of the day.
According to Lavella, Team White defeated James Madison University 48-36, outscored UNC-Wilmington 48-29 and dominated Duke 58-29.
Team Black beat UNC-Greensboro 41-33, West Virginia University 41-30 and closed the day with a win against Coastal Carolina 57-50.
Senior MaKayla White, a member of Team Black, commented on the team’s improvement from its first tournament. Placing fifth at Clemson, Team Black would improve to make it to the final four.
“We definitely improved,” White said. “We were able to get shots to fall, we were able to have a good shot selection. And we played really good defense this time, we stopped them really good.”
Another thing both teams improved on was stamina; Olsen had mentioned during the club’s last tournament that both teams suffered in later games from fatigue.
“We did a lot of conditioning at practice,” White said. “We were definitely in better shape this time around.”
Notably, Team Black has come a long way but still has some things to work on in hopes of becoming champions like its sister team. Team Black suffered from passes being picked off and stolen from opponents.
Being seeds one and two, both of NC State’s teams were able to start at 11:45 a.m. and bypass the first round. Team White’s first opponent was UNC-W. NC State won that game handily, 64-39. On the court next door, Team Black dealt Coastal Carolina a crushing blow, 45-16.
At 1 p.m., Team White moved onto the championship game after defeating JMU, while Team Black was dealt its first loss over the weekend to Clemson, 51-42. With both teams improving, Team White sophomore Vanessa Bissinger pointed out how well the team worked together against Clemson compared to the first tournament.
“This time we were more cohesive and able to work together as a team,” Bissinger said.
Bissinger commented on her performance against Clemson this Sunday.
“I was happy with the last game,” Bissinger said. “I’m usually more of a defensive player than an offensive player but today I got some three’s and that makes me happy.”
Looking to the future, Bissinger states her hopes for the club.
“I hope to just keep getting better and better,” Bissinger said. “I hope we keep winning. I hope we go our next tournament undefeated. I think it’s going to be at Georgetown so I really hope we can play new teams and beat them just as well.”
