Technician Online

March 3rd, 2007

State upends Duke in 70-65 upset

Here are some of the developments of today’s tournament action:

1) Atmosphere - Today the Greensboro Coliseum had a sell-out crowd with 11,538 fans in attendance. Of those in attendance, there were plenty of Wolfpack faithful cheering on the women along with many fans from North Carolina, Duke and Maryland. Interestingly a large proportion of Tar Heel and Terrapin fans cheered religiously for State to pull the upset over the Blue Devils. Whether the motivation for this cheering was a result of the Pack being the underdog, support for coach Kay Yow or simply because Carolina and Maryland fans would rather face State in the championship game is for you to ponder.

2) Physical Play - You can tell March Madness is in the air by the style of play so far in the tournament. All players are playing with an inspirational sense of determination - and have the bruises to prove it. Junior forward Khadijah Whittington sustained a busted-lip in yesterdays win over Florida State and aggrivated that ailment in todays game against Duke. Also, Whittington sprained her ankle in today’s game when going for a rebound, and missed the final minutes of the first half. Senior forward Keisha Brown also incurred a busted-lip in the game when Duke freshman forward Joy Cheek elbowed her in the mouth after a play was over. The referees did not catch the jab by Cheek.

3) Senior Leadership - The play of the six seniors on State’s roster has been incredibly valuable during the close of the regular season and the current run in the tournament, but no performance was more important to today’s game than that of senior guard Ashley Key. Key scored 15 of her game-high 21 points in the second half, including a couple of key baskets in the closing minutes of the game.

4) Championship Game - State, with its upset over Duke, earned a spot in its fifth ACC Tournament championship. Facing State will be North Carolina, who won 78-72 against national defending champions Maryland in the other semifinal game. The game will mark the third meeting between the two teams this season, with each team having defeated the other once. The last meeting was the last home game of the season for State, who won the contest 72-65. It should be interesting to see how the Pack hold up physically and emotionally after playing the emotional game against Duke today.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 3rd, 2007 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Women's ACC Tournament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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