Louisville knocks Pack out of ACC Women’s Tournament
.JPG "North Carolina State’s Kiara Leslie, center, drives between Louisville’s Kylee Shook, left, and Arica Carter, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the Atlantic Coast Conference women’s tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Saturday, March 9, 2019.")
Maybe it was a portent of things to come for N.C. State.
With four minutes left in the first half of its ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament semifinal with Louisville and the Wolfpack clinging to a three-point lead, Louisville guard Asia Durr took a pull-up jumper in the lane that had the ball become wedged in the neck of the rim.
During the stoppage, NC State’s 6-foot-5 freshman center Elissa Cunane leaped to dislodge the ball but couldn’t reach it. Then Louisville’s 6-4 Kylee Shook tried and tapped the ball free. Cunane said something to Shook that prompted a laugh.
“I said, “Your arms are longer – that’s why you got it,’” Cunane told the media after second-seeded Louisville rallied late to pull out a 78-68 victory over the Wolfpack and set up a meeting in the final with top-seeded Notre Dame for the second year in a row.
After Shook’s helpfulness, the proceedings quickly turned more serious for third-seeded NC State (26-5). The Cardinals (29-2) got the ball on the alternating possession, and Shook promptly drilled a baseline jumper that cut the margin it to one point.
Louisville would go on to hold the Wolfpack scoreless over the final 4:50 of the half, taking control with a 19-0 run en route to a 10-point halftime lead.
“We had three kids pick up two fouls halfway through the second quarter,” N.C State coach Wes Moore said. “I got them out, and we went from up 10 to down 10 in five minutes or so.
“I probably should have gambled and played some people some with two fouls. … I’m second-guessing myself on that one.”
The Pack had started the game in high gear, opening up 10-point leads twice in the second quarter. At the TV timeout with 4:37 left in the half, the Wolfpack led 34-28 and was shooting at a torrid 61 percent clip against the top-rated defense in the ACC.
A 3-pointer by Louisville guard Arica Carter, who finished with 16 points and was 4-of-7 from the 3-point arc, just before the timeout ignited the big run. N.C. State missed three shots and committed seven of its 10 first-half turnovers in that span. Carter would add two more triples to fuel Louisville’s scoring burst.
Cunane, who started where she left off the previous night when she poured in 22 points against Florida State, had scored 12 of her team-high 20 before picking up her second foul during Louisville’s run. It went from bad to worse for the Pack when Moore got hit with a technical for his reaction.
Durr, the two-time ACC Player of the Year, had been quiet to that point. But she scored eight of her 10 points in the final 3:08 of the half en route to a game-high 22.
“You just have to stay patient,” Durr said of her early shooting woes. “You’re not going to make every shot. It’s not always going to be pretty. You have to trust the process.”
To its credit, the Wolfpack weathered what could have been a knockout blow. NC State even briefly regained the lead in the third quarter behind the inside scoring of forwards DD Rogers and Kiara Leslie, who added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
But Louisville seized control for the final time, breaking a 57-57 tie when Durr got loose in the lane for a runner with 1.5 seconds left in the third quarter. The Cardinals went on to score the first seven points of the fourth quarter, including another triple from Carter, and the Wolfpack never got closer than six points in the final minute.
Moore said he thought the Pack used up a lot of energy trying to get back in the game, and it took its toll later.
“We can manage, we can rotate and manage with one starter out,” Moore said. “But when we have three out, it’s tough. We just don’t have the depth to handle that.”
Louisville’s victory sends the third-ranked Cardinals, the reigning ACC tournament champion, into the final for the second year in a row against fourth-ranked Notre Dame (29-3), the reigning national champion. Both were Final Four participants a year ago and were projected there again in the selection committee’s snapshot look on March 4.
Notre Dame certainly did nothing to dispel that notion. The Irish will play for their fourth ACC championship in five years in the noon final Sunday after blowing out fifth-seeded Syracuse 91-66.
All five Notre Dame starters scored in double figures, led by junior guard Jackie Young with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Senior forward Jessica Shepard also had a double-double with 16 points and 12 boards, while senior guard Marina Mabrey tied the school record for career 3-pointers (263) by going 4-of-9 beyond the arc to add 16 points.
Senior forward Brianna Turner had 14 points, and senior guard Arike Ogunbowale, who is the Irish’s all-time leading scorer, had a quiet 12 points despite an off shooting day (5-of-18).
Ogbunbowale, Shepard, and Durr were named Saturday among the 15 finalists for the John Wooden Award as national player of the year. Australian point guard Tiana Mangakahia led 18th-ranked Syracuse (24-8) with 14 points.
Notre Dame beat Louisville 82-68 in South Bend on Jan. 10, and Louisville senior forward Sam Fuehring, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds against N.C. State, offered her assessment.
“I feel like we need to rebound better,” she said. “When we played in January, we didn’t rebound well.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2019 at 6:05 PM.
