FanPost

WBB: Another Shut-Up, Don't Talk To Me Moment

From GoPack:

The NC State women's basketball team (25-8) fell in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament to BYU, 72-57, Saturday evening at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion.

Miah Spencer paced the Wolfpack with 16 points, while Markeisha Gatling (11 points) and Len'Nique Brown (10) also scored in double figures for State. With 11 points in the loss to the Cougars (27-6), Gatling ended the season scoring in double figures 32 straight times.

Spencer ended her freshman season having scored 273 points. This ranks her 15th on the scoring list among all freshmen in program history.

The Wolfpack played without its third leading scorer in Myisha Goodwin-Coleman, who was lost for the season due to an injury suffered at Duke on Feb. 20. State was also without backup senior center Lakeesa Daniel, who suffered a season-ending injury the next day.

"This was a tough day," said head coach Wes Moore. "I have to give BYU a lot of credit. They were well coached and well prepared. They shot the ball well and they have a lot of toughness. They did a good job getting to the rim. I have to give them a lot of credit.

"This is not the way we wanted to end our season," he added. "It will hurt for a while. At the same time, I am very proud of our young ladies. They bought in during my first year, so I am blessed in that regard."

Lexi Eaton scored a game-high 25 points for the Cougars. She was one of four BYU players to achieve double figures in the game, as Kylie Maeda (14 points), Bailey Mogan (13) , and Jennifer Hamson (12) also had strong offensive games. Hamson collected a game-high 19 rebounds.

Note: GoPack has Morgan Bailey's name wrong.

From the N&O:

Once again, North Carolina State is headed home after the first round of the NCAA women's tournament.

Lexi Eaton scored 25 points, Jennifer Hamson finished one block shy of a triple-double and 12th seeded BYU upset the No. 5 Wolfpack 72-57 in the first round of the Lincoln regional on Saturday.

N.C. State (25-8) lost in the first round for the fourth time in its last five tournament appearances, and hasn't won a tournament game since 2007.

What was a surprise was having six-seven Hamson guard Kody Burke and six-two Morgan Bailey, Thurl Bailey's niece, guard Markeisha Gatling. One would have expected Hamson to guard Gatling as each is a center and Bailey to match up with Burke.

Hamson blocked almost every shot that Kody took whether it be a three or a two in the first half. Hamson took Burke out of her game. Kody shot 2-18 for the game making two three pointers in the second half. Wonder if this took Coach Moore and his team by surprise as they never really took advantage of the Bailey/Gatling match up? Also, wondering why Gonzaga handled this BYU team 71-57 while State looked shell-shocked playing them. State had no answer for Lexi Eaton. State just could not defend her.

In the end, did Moore in his first year do any better than Harper in her first year? Moore's first team finished 25-8 (11-5 in conference) while Harper's first team finished 20-14 (7-7) in conference. Harper went 3-1 in the ACC tournament playing for the championship while Moore went 1-1. Both had first year teams which lost their one and only NCAA game by a wide margin. Moore went 0-2 against UNC his first year, while Harper went 1-1 beating UNC at Chapel Hill.

Both Harper and Moore had significant players get injured during the year with Harper losing six-four Tia Bell and Sharnise Beal while Moore lost Myisha Goodwin-Coleman and Lakeesa Daniel.

While both coaches played with house money in their first year because their teams were made up of the prior coach's players, both coaches brought a lot excitement to the program. Just like it did with Harper, recruiting will tell the story for Moore.