The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1113082
58 ■ THE WOLFPACKER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY BRIAN RAPP W es Moore is not one to try to compare the many teams he has coached in his 30-plus years on the bench. But he'll be the first to admit that his 2018-19 NC State women's bas- ketball team was unique in his experience. "I've never had a season when we've had four season-ending injuries," he noted. And that's why Moore — and Wolfpack fans — may remember this team for a long time, not for those injuries but for how the squad, despite those setbacks, pulled together to produce a season for the record books. When the Pack walked off the court in Greensboro following its 79-61 NCAA re- gional semifinal loss to Iowa March 31, it wrapped up a season in which it won 28 games, second most in the history of the pro- gram; started the season with a 21-game win- ning streak, the longest in program history; began the ACC portion of the schedule 8-0, the second-longest conference streak in his- tory; earned the No. 3 seed for the ACC Tour- nament, its highest since 2005; and advanced to the NCAA's Sweet 16 for the second con- secutive year, its first back-to-back trips to the round of 16 since the 1990 and 1991 seasons. They accomplished all this without their returning point guard (injured in the pre- season); their leading scorer and No. 2 re- bounder for the first 14 games of the sea- son; their primary backup at guard, injured two games later; and their starting post, injured in game 23. All four — redshirt junior point guard Kayla Ealey, redshirt junior guard Grace Hunter, senior guard Armani Hawkins and junior forward Erika Cassell — were side- lined with season-ending knee injuries. "I'm just so proud of this group," Moore said. "They never took a night off. They didn't relax; they didn't look at the sched- ule and say we can get by this team without our best effort. "They pretty much played to their po- tential every night. We always talk about that if you can defend and rebound, you can win on a night when maybe you're not shooting well, and this group lived that. "They squeezed everything they could out of their potential, and we were success- ful because of their taking care of business attitude." Though the 2018-19 Pack didn't win an ACC title or advance past the NCAA Sweet 16, its success in the face of adversity earned it 14 weeks in the nation's top 20 and a final rank of No. 9 in the USA Today/Coaches' poll — NC State's highest since finishing fourth in the country in 1998, when the team earned its only Final Four appearance. That epic journey produced its share of award-winning moments and individual and team highlights, including these best of the best: Team MVP There's no question that NC State's suc- cess this season was the result of not just one, but each of the players who saw playing time raising their level of play. Senior guard Kiara Leslie was the linchpin of that effort. In her second and final season with the Pack after transferring from Maryland, the Holly Springs, N.C., native led the Pack is scoring (15.9 points per game) and steals (38), while she finished second in rebounds per game (7.2) and assists (96), and tied for second in blocked shots (26). Leslie's importance to NC State was further veri- fied by her selection to the All-ACC first team and all-league defense unit, and her AP All-America honorable mention honor. On April 10, she became the school's highest selection in the WNBA Draft (10th, by the Washington Mystics) since Markei- sha Gatling was taken 10th in 2014, and is Senior guard Kiara Leslie started all 34 games this season for the Pack, and led the team in scor- ing (15.9 points per game) and steals (38). She also ranked second on the squad in rebounds per game (7.2), assists (96) and blocks (26). PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN AGAINST ALL ODDS The Pack Women's Basketball Season Was Defined By Record Success Despite Tremendous Adversity