The last time No. 24 N.C. State (21-8, 10-4) stepped on the court to compete against Florida State (22-8, 10-4) on Feb. 5, it was a special night, as coach Kay Yow became only the sixth coach in women’s basketball history to win 700 career games.
When the Wolfpack steps onto the court today at the Greensboro Coliseum to compete against the Seminoles for the second time this season, the team will encounter another important game as it begins its quest for an ACC Tournament championship.
State, which had a first-round bye Thursday because it is the fourth-place team, comes into the tournament on a tear as it has won eight of its last nine games, including the last three.
Senior center Gillian Goring has averaged 14.4 points per game while shooting 59.8 percent in those nine games, and senior guard Ashley Key has averaged 12.2 points per game and 4.3 assists per contest during the stretch.
Key, who was named to the All-ACC defensive team this week for the third straight season, said the momentum the team has coming into the tournament has everyone’s spirits at a very high level.
“It’s good because we know that we are playing Wolfpack basketball,” Key said. “We have got a lot of confidence right now and hopefully that will continue.”
The Seminoles also came into the tournament on a three-game win streak and added one more victory to that streak Thursday when they defeated No. 12 seed Wake Forest 70-53 in their first-round game.
Florida State sophomore guard Mara Freshour led the team to victory with a career-high 18 points on five-of-five shooting from the three-point line, and she also had a career-high-tying six assists.
The performance was the polar opposite of her zero-point, six-turnover outing against State when the two teams played during the regular season.
The Pack dominated the Seminoles in their regular season match-up, never trailing during the game and at one point being up by 27 points.
Despite State’s complete dominance of the Seminoles in their only meeting this season, Key said Florida State is a good team with special players — specifically senior guard Alicia Gladden, the teams leading scorer with 13.6 points per game, and sophomore center Britany Miller.
“They have a team that can score inside and outside,” Key said. “Gladden is a really good offensive player who can shoot it from the outside or take it inside, while Miller is really a lot to pay attention to on the inside.”
While it is easy to look to possible future match-ups when in a tournament style of competition, Key said the team is focusing on “Florida State and Florida State only.”
“We obviously want to win the tournament,” Key said. “But we just want to go out and play hard, and then we will see what happens.”
If the Pack is able to defeat Florida State, it will be scheduled to play Saturday in the tournaments first semifinal game against either Duke or Virginia.
With the NCAA tournament beginning two weeks after this weekend, State’s tournament performance will be “huge” for the team and its chances of being seeded favorably in the NCAA tournament, according to Key.
“We have been on the good end and the bad end of things this season,” Key said. “If we have a good performance this weekend, then I think it can help us a lot. But if we don’t play well, then we might not end up where we want to be.”
