March 30, 2008

• 2008 Postseason ACCtion Central

Wolfpack Women Headed To WNIT Final Four

RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State is bound for the Women's NIT Final Four.

The Wolfpack jumped out to a huge first half lead, but needed a running jumper from Shayla Fields (14 points) with 18 seconds left for a 63-61 nail biting win over St. John's in the WNIT Quarterfinal round Sunday at Reynolds Coliseum.

NC State (21-12) will play Michigan State in East Lansing Wednesday night at 7 pm.

Khadijah Whittington (17 points) and Nikitta Gartrell led a first half attack with 19 of the Pack's 37 points in taking a 20 point lead at the break.

However, St. John's (18-15) regrouped with a sparkling second half - shooting a staggering 59.3 percent after intermission. The lead dwindled under double digits on a 3 by Monique McLean with 5:41 remaining.

Eight turnovers by NC State (21-12) in the final seven minutes fueled a 13-1 run by the Red Storm that tied the game for the first time, 61-all, on a Kia Wright free throw with 29 ticks to go. But Fields, who scored a career-high 31 Thursday night in a win over Florida, had a flair for the dramatic with her banked game winner.

Wright led the Red Storm with 16 points, but her final 3-point attempt came up short as Nikitta Gartrell (11 points) held tight on defense.

The Wolfpack played strong team defense the entire first half limiting the visiting Red Storm to only two field goals over the first 9:26 of action. That allowed NC State to jump out to a 17-4 advantage after a Fields' 3-pointer.

The 3-ball continued to fall in the early going as the red and white made four of its first seven shots from beyond the arc, including a Brittany Strachan 3 that made it 20-8 at the 7:59 mark.

Coupled with continued defensive pressure that saw St. John's turn the ball over 10 times by the five minute mark, the Pack ran off 10 straight points to go ahead 30-9. Whittington started the spurt with a pair of buckets and Tia Bell finished it with two of her own.

The lead grew to 37-13 after Whittington converted two from the free throw line. In all, the Pack went 11-for-13 from the line in the opening half.

The victory today avenged a loss to the Red Storm earlier this season at a tournament in Vermont way back in November.

NC State will play in the month of April for the first time in program history on Wednesday.