The women’s basketball team improved its record on the season to 2-1 with a win over the Florida Atlantic Owls Tuesday night. The game showcased the team’s ability to come back strong following its disappointing loss to Vermont in the Sheraton Raleigh Wolfpack Invitational last weekend.
The first half did not exactly start out the way State had hoped for. Florida Atlantic jumped out early with a full court man to man press, frustrating the Pack early on. Guard Amber White put State’s first four points on the board with two consecutive layups.
“I knew I really had to come out and really be aggressive, whether its driving to get Marissa [Kastanek] and Brittany [Strachan] open or just driving and taking it myself,” White said.
State went through a three-minute stretch without scoring, until White broke the streak with a layup. She went 100 percent from the field in the first half, going 5-5 with two point attempts and sinking her lone three-point attempt.
“I started to see our body language slipping – hanging our heads – and that can’t happen,” Harper said. “That’s something I wanted to [fix] real quick. We didn’t make a lot of adjustments.”
A three-pointer by freshman guard Marissa Kastanek gave the Pack a 26-25 lead in the middle of the first half. She finished the first half with 12 points.
State went into halftime with a 42-31 lead, but the rebounding deficit was a point of emphasis for coach Harper at halftime.
“Well I went into half time very upset about our rebounding,” Harper said. “We kept giving offensive boards and most of that was coming from their guards. We work on rebounding every single day and we go to halftime with four offensive boards and they had eight. That’s not [going to] fly in this program.”
State maintained the positive momentum in the second half. The Pack started the second half off with a 10-0 run that gave State a 52-31 lead. Both White and Kastanek posted career highs in scoring, with White going for 25 points and Kastenek with 20 in the third game of her young college career.
“I did not come into this program looking to be a scorer. I felt like I have some very great shooters and very great post players that I want to get the ball to,” White said. “The offense, they find me, it’s a great thing, but I’m not looking to score, I’m looking to try and run this team, do what coach [Harper] says, and get try to everyone involved.”
State will return to Reynolds Coliseum Friday at 7 p.m. in a matchup against Davidson College.
