State falls to 'Hoos, puts itself in a postseason hole

 

The Wolfpack dropped to 4-7 in conference play after losing to the Virginia Cavailers, 55-47, on Sunday afternoon. The Pack's offense was plagued with turnovers - 25 for the game - and the Hoos took advantage of it, scoring 22 points off of turnovers. 

 

"We just didn't have the focus that we have to have to get a win in the ACC," head coach Kellie Harper said. 

 

State's offense was stagnant, as the Pack wasn't able to put any points on the board. Due to the lack of offense, Harper delved into her bench early in the half, calling on freshman Krystal Barrett, Erica Donovan and Kiana Evans for a spark. 

 

"I'm disappointed in our lack of execution offensively," Harper said. "I thought we had a couple of good practices leading up to this game, and I felt like our players were all on the same page in knowing what we needed to do." 

 

"I don't know that it was really the offense," junior guard Marissa Kastanek said. "It was the movement. We didn't utilize ball fakes as we should have or, like Coach said, hit the open person and make the easy pass. 

 

"We were making this hard for ourselves instead of just doing the easy things."

 

After nine minutes of scoreless basketball for State, redshirt senior guard Emili Tassler hoisted a long distance two off a handoff from senior Bonae Holston with 11 minutes left in the half, leaving the Hoos with an 8-2 lead.

 

Despite the slow start, the Wolfpack clawed its way back into the game. A barrage of threes from the Pack's frontcourt led its comeback, shooting at 50 percent from behind the arch in the first half. A three by Kastanek on the fast break closed the gap to one with just one minute remaining, leaving the score at 22-21 Cavs going into the locker room for the half. 

 

A put back layup from sophomore center Kody Burke put the Pack on the board early in the second half, 26-23, and a layup from Holston gave State its first lead of the game, 27-26, with 15:34 left in the game. 

 

Despite gaining the lead, the Wolfpack wasn't able to hold the edge over the Cavaliers for very long. A layup from Virginia guard Ariana Moorer helped UVA regain the lead, 28-27, and the Cavs held a vice grip on it for the remainder of the game.

 

UVA widened the gap to double digits at 38-28 with 12 minutes left in the half and it kept growing due to forcing the Pack into several turnovers resulting from the Cavs switching to a zone press on defense.

 

"We weren't sharp," Harper said. "There were times where we could've made an extra pass or we could have made a good pass that led to a shot. We just didn't execute whether it be we threw the pass behind somebody or didn't make a good pass or we didn't see the open person." 

 

The Pack was able to close the score to within six with five seconds left, but it was to no avail as Virginia was able to hold on and come out with the victory. State has now dropped to No. 7 in the conference with a 4-7 record with five games left in the conference schedule. 

 

"We just [have to] come together," Holston said. "Everybody has to be on the same page and know that we have the same goals."