The reason for the women’s basketball team’s 67-63 loss to Georgia Tech Thursday night was no secret to coach Kay Yow and her players. Despite fixing the rebounding struggles that cost the Wolfpack (12-6, 0-3) a home loss against the rival Tar Heels last Sunday, the Pack failed to take care of the ball, committing 34 turnovers in the contest, just three turnovers shy of the school record for turnovers in a game, set in 1976.
“Turnovers cost us this game,” Yow said. “I felt we did other things that were good. But we didn’t take care of the ball.”
Twenty-three of the Pack’s turnovers came in the first half, as Georgia Tech’s (16-2, 3-1) relentless full-court pressure created steals and caused carelessness in State’s offensive sets. The Pack blew an opportunity to even get off a shot 23 times, Yow said.Georgia Tech pressured the ball in transition, leading to turnovers and easy baskets. Though the Pack had practiced against the press, pressure from behind and tipped balls went in Georgia Tech’s favor, according to junior guard Shayla Fields.
“They got a lot of steals from the middle of the court, pressuring us from behind,” Fields said. “We work on that in practice a lot, but they put a lot of pressure on us from behind and got a lot of steals from that.”
Despite the first-half turnovers, the Pack trailed by only seven points at halftime, as the Pack jumped out to an early lead in the game, leading 12-5 with 14:13 remaining in the half. That’s when Georgia Tech began forcing turnovers and finished the half on a 25-11 run to take a lead it would never lose in the game.
State entered the second half hungry, according to Yow, and tied the game at 34 with 16 minutes left.
Still, the turnovers in the first half were too much for the Pack to overcome, as Georgia Tech held off a late-game run and State lacked the time to make up the point difference.
“They didn’t kill us on the boards or have a field day in any area,” Yow said. “But they did in the turnover area. An that’s what cost us.”
The loss moves the women to 0-3 in the ACC, its worst conference record to start the season since the 2003-2004 season.
Yow said she has complete confidence that her team will turn the season around as it strives to put together a complete game.
“We’re in a deep hole, [with] our backs against the wall,” Yow said. “But there’s nothing in us that would stop us from getting better and believing that we can make a run in the ACC — absolutely nothing in my mind. I believe that with all my heart.”
With each of its conference losses coming within nine points, the Pack still has a positive outlook on the season, according to senior forward Khadijah Whittington, as it knows it can compete with any team in the ACC.
“We have a positive attitude,” Whittington said. “I think we’re hungry and we want a win. But we get this close and it goes the other way. Like coach Yow said, ‘We just always have certain areas where we have mistakes.”
The women will take on Duke in Durham on Sunday at 1 p.m. as it looks to earn its first conference victory of the season.
“It ought to make us hungrier,” Whittington said. “No one likes to lose. The only thing we can do is look ahead to the next game. We can’t look too far ahead, we have to look at the next game.”
