During ACC play, and before the injuries, NC State was playing only 7 players. One of those was freshman guard Miah Spencer, who has now moved into the starting lineup for Myisha Goodwin-Coleman. The other player playing was reserve senior Lakeesa Daniel, who subbed in for Gatling and Burke and provided valuable minutes.
Against Virginia Sunday, freshman post player Jennifer Mathurin subbed for Gatling and Burke. Mathurin is a tough, physical player who rebounds well and hustles every single play. She has some freshman tendencies but doesn't play scared. Beyond Mathurin, there are no other post options. There is a walk-on, first-year graduate student post player on the team but she only played very little mop up time early in the season.
Senior Breezy Williams and freshman walk-on Ashley Williams subbed in for the guards. B. Williams has started some in the past under Harper's teams, but she has been limited because of a slew of injuries. A. Williams doesn't hurt the team when she's in, and she takes care of the ball, but she doesn't provide much of an offensive threat.
So Moore will play the five starters as much as he can for as long as he can.
I wish the Virginia game had been on TV or shown on ESPN3 so I can go back and watch the replay. It was a great game with a very emotional ending. State led by 10 points at one point, and Virginia came back (knocking down a lot of 3s) to take a 9-point lead with about 6 or 7 minutes left. NC State tied it up with about 1-and-a-half minute left on a 3 by Spencer. There were five lead changes the rest of the game, with it ending on a Burke 3-pointer with several seconds left. Up to that point, Burke had made only 1 of her 13 shots. Moore was choked up after the game given what the team went through that week--losing 2 of their seniors to ACLs within 24 hours of each other. It was a heck of a game and speaks volumes to the kind of players that define the Wolfpack Women program that Kay Yow built and to the kind of coach that Moore is. In the words of another legendary NC State coach, Jimmy V, the players really never give up.
Oh, and after the game, Moore also said that he hopes ND comes into Reynolds on Sunday undefeated. I'm sure some of that comment was an undefeated ND means another UNC loss, but also because he said he wants his team to have the chance to knock off an undefeated team, and he's looking forward to his players facing the challenge. The guy knows what's he's doing, even if State beating ND is a long shot.
State needs to beat Pitt Thursday night -- and then Sunday, really looking forward to what will be an emotional day and a great opponent.
