The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/406183
86 ■ THE WOLFPACKER WOLFPACK BASKETBALL PREVIEW the team's unexpected success, Brown- Hoskin said she wasn't. "I knew we had a good team even before last year," she said. "We just couldn't pull all the pieces together. When we beat that first ranked team last year [then-No. 12 LSU in December 2013], I could see we were heading in the right direction. "Making the NCAA was a dream come true. Since I started playing, I watched different people in college and would fol- low them each round as they advanced. I wanted to be in that position, but for three years I never got that chance — so last year, to see our name on the bracket, was an unbelievable feeling." Making a return trip this season is going to be, arguably, the biggest challenge of Brown-Hoskin's career … one she's well aware of. "Every year we start off with new ob- stacles and challenges," she said. "We just have to face adversity, overcome it and keep rolling with the punches. "I know there's a lot of pressure on us to increase our scoring, and I think that as the season goes on we'll learn how to do that. We're not there yet, but it's about what hap- pens in March and how we finish. I believe we're going to get there." Her personal goal is to "do whatever I need to do to help my teammates," she said. This year, that includes improving her three- point scoring after going 31 of 98 (31.6 percent) from behind the arc last season. "Her three-point shot looks good — it just didn't go down enough last year," Moore said. "As quick as she is, if she can nail threes and people come out on her, she'll have no trouble taking them off the dribble. If people back off, she has to make them pay for that, too." That's just one more challenge for Brown-Hoskin, to add to this year's pur- suit of a master's degree (she graduated this past spring with a degree in sports manage- ment, with the eventual goal of coaching in college), reminding Spencer — a huge fan of LeBron James — of the San Antonio Spurs' NBA victory last June and defying predictions of a lower-half finish in the conference — again. "We were picked to finish 10th last year, won 25 games, were ranked 10th in the nation at one point [the Pack finished 21st in the final Associated Press poll] — and we're picked 10th in the ACC again," she pointed out. "That's definitely something we'll use as motivation. "It's never been my thing to look at stats as goals. I just want to be a person my teammates can count on, whether that's making three-pointers, assists, giving a high-five or picking someone up when they get knocked down. If we do the little things every day in practice so we can transfer them to games, play through every posses- sion and consistently knock down shots, we'll be successful." ■ Brown-Hoskin is the returning team leader in scoring (8.8 points per game), rebounding (4.1), minutes played (1,018), field goal attempts (261), three-point attempts (98) and three-point makes (31). PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN