Wolfpack cruises against Davidson to get Harper’s 100th career win
N.C. State coach Kellie Harper, with husband and assistant coach Jon Harper and Marissa Kastanek, #23, in the background, directs traffic during her 100th win on Friday night against Davidson. (Photo by Jeremy Lange).
REYNOLDS COLISEUM/RALEIGH Kellie Harper is quickly into her fourth home game in her short tenure as head coach at N.C. State, and tonight she has an opportunity to reach an early milestone.
The 32-year-old former Western Carolina coach, who comes into the game with a 2-1 record this season, can get her 100th career victory. Not in the realm of the 1,000-plus wins her mentor Pat Summitt has at Tennessee, but how many people have started careers as college or even high school coaches and never gotten to triple figures?
Tonight she’ll be facing an old foe, at least for her. Harper was 6-5 in her tenure at WCU against Southern Conference rival Davidson, which oddly hasn’t played the Wolfpack since 1976. The Wildcats, under former Wolfpack assistant Annette Watts, are 0-2.
And it’s a mismatch from the start, en route to a 79-54 Wolfpack victory.
The Wolfpack leads 3-0, then 10-2, then 41-15 at halftime.
Everything the home team does seems to work pretty well, as State outrebounds the Wildcats 30-11 at the break and shoots 47.1 percent to Davidson’s 24.1. Bonae Holston and Tia Bell are already in double figures at the break. Continue reading »
