N.C. State women's basketball coach Kellie Harper said she hasn't discussed her team's height challenges with players, removing the subject as an issue for a team that is clearly undersized.
"We just say we have to go play," Harper said. "I think our kids understand that they have to play harder, they have to play a little bit smarter."
Harper hasn't dwelled on height, but it is a concern for the sixth-seeded Wolfpack as it enters ACC Tournament play tonight against Clemson at the Greensboro Coliseum.
State juniors Tia Bell and Brittany Strachan, both 6 feet 3, are the tallest players the Wolfpack has in its rotation. Bell played in 21 games this season, but has missed the past eight with a knee injury.
Post players Inga Muciniece (6-5) and Hanna Halteman (6-4) have played sparingly this season.
At 6-1, State senior Lucy Ellison has held down the paint with the help of 5-11 sophomore Bonae Holston, who leads the team with 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
The Pack average 39.1 rebounds per game, which ranks 11th in the conference just above Clemson. The Tigers can call upon 6-3 center Shaniqua Pauldo and 6-4 backup Lindsey Mason.
Harper said if the ACC Tournament came down to one-on-one play her team might be in trouble. Since it's five-on-five, she said they have a chance, considering the way they've improved at team defense.
"Every little part of our defense affects everything else," she said. "From the ball pressure, to the denial, to the help side, post defense.
"Everything affects the result."
State players are not intimidated, reassured by their most recent defensive effort against fourth-seeded Georgia Tech. They held the Yellow Jacks to 46 points and 32.7 shooting in the final game of the regular season.
"What we lack in size we are going to make up in physicality," Strachan said. "Our mind set is to go hard all the time. Bring it."
