N.C. State 59, Clemson 54

In three games during the regular season, State rallied for improbable victories - down by as many as 12 points late - but there was no need for heroics as the sixth-seeded Pack eked by the 11th-seeded Tigers to advance to the quarterfinal round today where it faces third-seeded Virginia.

State needed gritty, cut-the-lane-off defense. 

The Pack mustered just enough to hold off the Tigers, inching to victory with a slow, steady trickle of offense created by a pesky late-game defense - a hand in the face, a strip of the ball, a box out on the block.

“Our post defense was much better this game,” State coach Kellie Harper said. “We mixed up the defense - we played a little in front and a little behind and pressured the basketball and pressured them from making the easy baskets.”

That’s what earned the first-year coach her first ACC Tournament victory and State its first since 2007. It’s been a hard lesson learned by a team that has lost six games by six or less points this season - a combined 23 points.

“We’ve had a lot of close games of late,” Harper said. “They have a lot of confidence and they believe in each other.”

With Thursday’s score tied at 47-47 with five minutes remaining, State sophomore Bonae Holston secured a defensive rebound and followed that with a layup. Back down court, the 5-foot-11 forward boxed out again and snagged another defensive rebound that later set-up a 3-pointer from the right corner by freshman Marissa Kastanek.

That series gave the Pack a 54-47 lead and it was able to pull out a sweat-soaked victory.

Holston, the team’s leading scorer this season, finished with a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes. She and her undersized front court mates held their own against a taller Clemson team.

“We were getting after it,” Hotlson said. “I just kept fighting.”

Kastanek, the conference’s freshman of the year, added 12 points, five rebounds and five steals. She collected yet another floor-burn diving on the hardwood, though this time she irritated the skin through a knee pad.

“State played tough,” Clemson coach Cristy McKinney said. “I don’t think we matched that like we needed to.”

State has now won six of its past eight games, a late-season trend the Pack has developed over the past five years in the months of February and March. Last season, the Pack started the ACC schedule 0-4, but finished 6-4.

In 2007, the team won eight of nine entering the post-season. It was during that season that the Pack made its last run into the ACC Tournament finals, knocking off an undefeated Duke in the semifinals before falling to North Carolina in the championship game. 

If State is to keep advancing in this tournament, it must continue to create offense with its defense. The Pack is forcing 23.1 turnovers per game in conference play this season, which ranks third in the league.

On Thursday, they forced 19 turnovers and held the Tigers to 35 percent from the field (21-for-60). 

Today the Pack gets a different kind of opponent in Virginia, which features Monica Wright -  the conference’s player and defensive player of the year. She leads the league with 23 points per game.

Kastanek said her teammates weren’t satisfied with the gaffes of Thursday night and know they must perform better today. Still, though, they were not going to flog themselves when they pulled out a close game.

“It’s definitely a good feeling because you know you played bad and still won,” Kastanek said. “When we play well what can we do? It’s one of those questions you remind yourself of.”