Showing posts tagged “Western Carolina”
Mike Potter ·
15 Mar 2010, 9:56 PM ·
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N.C. State's Marissa Kastanek dribbles up court as Duke's Karima Christmas defends during the ACC Tournament championship game. (Photo by Rob Rowe)
BACKYARD BISTRO/RALEIGH Kellie Harper couldn’t remember exactly when she had been in such a situation before.
Back when the N.C. State women’s basketball coach was a point guard at Tennessee the Lady Vols - who won three NCAA titles during her career - were pretty much in the NCAA Tournament before the season started. Then during her five seasons as head coach at Western Carolina and three seasons as an assistant at Chattanooga before that, Southern Conference teams knew they had to win the conference tournament or they might earn a bid to the WNIT.
But the Wolfpack (20-13) has been on the NCAA “bubble” ever since losing the ACC championship game to Duke eight days ago, although most of the bracketologists had N.C. State in the field.
Harper and her team gathered with about 300 fans on Monday night to watch the Selection Special on ESPN that announced the 64 competing teams.
Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, Duke, N.C. Central, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Women's Basketball Amber White, Cetera DeGraffenreid, Chattanooga, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, Hampton Pirates, Hartford, Jasmine Thomas, Joanne P. McCallie, Joy Cheek, Kellie Harper, Louisiana State, Marissa Kastanek, Michigan State, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Nikitta Gartrell, Portland State, Southern Conference, Sylvia Hatchell, Texas A&M, UCLA, Virginia Cavaliers, Western Carolina
Mike Potter ·
7 Feb 2010, 7:28 PM ·
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REYNOLDS COLISEUM/RALEIGH N.C. State returns home for a Super Bowl Sunday matchup, this time against a team that seems to be at its same level in the ACC.
The Wolfpack (12-10, 2-5 ACC) is taking on Virginia Tech (12-10, 2-6), looking to snap a three-game losing streak one week after a 13-point loss at last-place Clemson. The Hokies, whose big claim to fame this season was a home-court shocker over UNC, have never beaten N.C. State in women’s basketball.
Both head coaches - the Wolfpack’s first-year mentor Kellie Harper and the Hokies’ Beth Dunkenberger - are former head coaches at Western Carolina.
Regional cable TV cameras are in the house. And the Wolfpack eventually responds with a pretty good show in a 70-57 victory. Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, Duke, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Women's Basketball Amber White, Beth Dunkenberger, Bonae Holston, Clemson, Emili Tasler, Kellie Harper, Lindsay Biggs, Marissa Kastanek, Savannah State, Sharnise Beal, Tia Bell, Utahya Drye, Virginia Tech, Western Carolina
Mike Potter ·
7 Feb 2010, 12:01 AM ·
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N.C. State’s tradition of Super Bowl Sunday basketball games continues today.
The Wolfpack women’s team, which hasn’t played in a week, will try to end its three-game losing streak with a 4 p.m. contest against Virginia Tech at Reynolds Coliseum.
The Hokies have never beaten the Wolfpack in 10 tries. Tech’s season highlight so far was an upset over visiting ACC favorite UNC back on Jan. 14.
First-year Wolfpack coach Kellie Harper’s team needs three more wins to assure itself at least a .500 finish and a near-certain spot in post-season play. Both Harper and Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger are former head coaches at Western Carolina.
Bonae Holston (pictured) leads the Wolfpack in both scoring and rebounding, while Utahya Drye, a product of Durham’s Northern High, leads the Hokies in both categories. Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Women's Basketball Amber White, Beth Dunkenberger, Bonae Holston, Kellie Harper, Nikki Davis, Utahya Drye, Virginia Tech, Western Carolina
Mike Potter ·
20 Nov 2009, 11:01 PM ·
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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 »
ACC, Basketball, N.C. State, Women's Basketball Alex Thompson, Annette Watts, Ashley Lax, Bonae Holston, Brittany Strachan, Davidson, Jon Harper, Marissa Kastanek, Old Dominion, Southern Conference, Tennessee Lady Vols, Tia Bell, Western Carolina, William & Mary
Mike Potter ·
20 Nov 2009, 12:28 AM ·
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N.C. State will try to get its new women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper her 100th career win tonight, when the Wolfpack entertains Davidson at Reynolds Coliseum.
It’s the finale of a stretch of four straight home games to begin the season for the Wolfpack (2-1).
Harper (pictured) is 6-5 against the Wildcats, those games all played while she was head coach at Southern Conference rival Western Carolina.
Davidson coach Annette Watts is a former Wolfpack assistant under the late Kay Yow.
Tonight’s game
Davidson at N.C. State
[Friday, 7 p.m., Reynolds Coliseum]
NCSU leads series 2-0
Records: Davidson 0-2, N.C. State 2-1.
Audio: WKNC-FM 88.1
Video: GoPack.com
Coaches’ records - Davidson: Annette Watts 130-102; NCSU: Kellie Harper 99-66, 2-1 at NCSU.
Leading scorers - Davidson: Alexandra Thompson 13.5; NCSU: Amber White 16.0.
Leading rebounders - Davidson: Julia Paquette 8.0; NCSU: Bonae Holston 6.7.
Assist leaders - Davidson: Barbara Sitton 4.0; NCSU: Marissa Kastanek 3.0.
ACC, Basketball, N.C. State, Women's Basketball Alexandra Thompson, Amber White, Annette Watts, Barbara Sitton, Bonae Holston, Julia Paquette, Kay Yow, Kellie Harper, Marissa Kastanek, Western Carolina
Mike Potter ·
2 Nov 2009, 11:21 PM ·
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REYNOLDS COLISEUM/RALEIGH It’s the first time new coach Kellie Harper has trotted her N.C. State women’s basketball team out in front of the public.
There have been, of course, plenty of changes since last season for the Wolfpack. Harper, a three-time NCAA champion as a point guard at Tennessee who went 97-65 in her tenure at Western Carolina, replaced the late Kay Yow in the spring after a search in which athletics director Lee Fowler decided interim coach Stephanie Glance was not going to get the full-time job.
State is missing only one player from last-season’s team, but then-senior go-to guard and leading scorer Shayla Fields was a very important loss.
At 32 Harper - who was known as Kellie Jolly during her playing days with the Lady Vols - is the youngest coach in the ACC. So far looks like she could still get out there and run at practice, which she often does.
Tonight’s exhibition opponent is Division II North Greenville, the connection being that NGU assistant Scott Moore was a volunteer on Harper’s staff at WCU.
It’s not supposed to be much of a contest against the much smaller visitors, and it isn’t. State scores the game’s first 11 points, leads 42-17 at halftime and holds its biggest margin of 87-44 at the final buzzer.
The Wolfpack shoots 45.8 percent from the floor to 23.1 for the Crusaders and wins the rebound battle 62-25. Points in the paint are 46-4.
State gets five players in double figures, as sophomore forward Bonae Holston (pictured) leads the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, N.C. State, Women's Basketball Amber White, Bonae Holston, Brittany Strachan, Emily Tasler, Florida International, Karly Stache, Kay Yow, Kellie Harper, Lucy Ellison, Marissa Kastanek, Nikki Wood, North Greenville, Scott Moore, Shayla Fields, Stephanie Glance, Tennessee Lady Vols, USC-Upstate, Western Carolina
Mike Potter ·
1 Nov 2009, 9:16 PM ·
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New coach Kellie Harper will lead her N.C. State women’s basketball team against outside opposition for the first time Monday night at Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack, which returns 11 of 12 players from last season’s team, will take on North Greenville in a 7 p.m. exhibition.
Harper (pictured), a former Tennessee guard who played on three NCAA title teams, was 97-65 in five seasons at Western Carolina. She led the Catamounts to the Southern Conference title last season.
State was 13-17 last season under the late Kay Yow and then interim head coach Stephanie Glance. Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, N.C. State, Women's Basketball Florida International, Jayne Arledge, Karly Stache, Kay Yow, Kellie Harper, Lucy Ellison, Nikitta Gartrell, Nikki Wood, North Greenville, Sharnise Beal, Stephanie Glance, Tennessee Lady Vols, Vermont Catamounts, Western Carolina, Western Michigan, Whitney Smith
