NC State: ‘We’re the party crashers’ at women’s Final Four
CLEVELAND – Iowa boasts AP player of the year Caitlin Clark. UConn arguably owns the top program in women’s basketball. South Carolina is undefeated and favored to win its second national title in three years.
NC State, heavy underdogs in this star-studded Final Four, is just fine with all of that.
“We’re the party crashers,” Wolfpack guard Saniya Rivers said after Thursday’s practice at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, “and we’re coming to crash the party.”
On Friday, NC State faces South Carolina, which is 36-0 and ranked No. 1. The Wolfpack, meanwhile, entered this year without receiving a single vote in the preseason polls.
“We’ve been the underdogs all season,” said Rivera, who began her career at South Carolina and was part of the Gamecocks’ national championship team in 2022 before transferring. “It gives us confidence, but I also feel like it gives us so much motivation. … That we have something to prove. We played all season with a chip on our shoulders.”
The confident Wolfpack unexpectedly emerged out of the Portland regional, rallying to knock off second-seeded Stanford before vanquishing No. 1 seed Texas 76-66 to reach the Final Four for just the second time in school history.
Now, they get their shot at South Carolina. The loaded Gamecocks are an 11.5-point favorite. But Thursday, NC State’s players didn’t shy away from the challenge.
“I believe that we can do it,” said center River Baldwin. “We all believe that we can do it, and it’s fine if everybody else doubts us because we have each other and that’s all we need.”
NC State coach Wes Moore referenced both the movie “Dumb and Dumber” — “You say there’s a chance?” — and David and Goliath when asked what he thought about his team’s odds of pulling off the biggest upset yet.
“But you can look at it two ways. … ‘Oh, my gosh, why do we have to play them?'” he said of the Gamecocks. “I look at it as there’s 356 other teams that would give anything to have this opportunity.
“So let’s load up that stone and let it rip.”