N.C. State women advance to ACC title game, hope to win first tourney title since 91
After No. 4 seed Florida State knocked off No. 1 seed Louisville in the first semifinal of the ACC Women’s Tournament, N.C. State fans in the front row stood and celebrated the upset.
At the time it seemed a bit premature and possibly a bad omen. But it was just the warm-up celebration as their Wolfpack would take care of business in the following game.
After defeating No. 6 seed Boston College, 82-75, No. 2 seed N.C. State advanced to the 2020 ACC championship game on Sunday. The Wolfpack and Seminoles will meet in a rematch of their top 15 showdown on Jan. 16 in Raleigh. N.C. State won that game 68-51.
The Wolfpack and Noles will meet at noon for the ACC championship.
Sunday will mark a return to the ACC Tournament title game for the first time since 2010. Their last title came in 1991, years before anyone on the current roster was born. N.C. State fans have been desperate for a championship of any kind in one of their major sports, and Wes Moore’s team is 32 minutes away from making that happen.
“Proud of our kids, the way they responded,” Moore said. “We got off to a slow start again. That second quarter was big, getting us some momentum heading into the half.”
Moore has brought plenty of momentum to Raleigh. Under Moore the program has returned to glory, with top 10 rankings and four trips to the NCAA tournament. Hardware to show for all that hard work has avoided the program. All that can change on Sunday. Florida State knocking off the top seed Cardinals, who defeated N.C. State, 66-59, last month, means the Wolfpack should go into Sunday’s final as the favorite. State will go into championship Sunday coming off one of its best games in a while.
By the fourth quarter Moore’s top scorers — Aislinn Konig, Elissa Cunane, Kayla Jones - were spectators next to him on the bench. Konig had done her part, scoring 16 points and knocking down four 3s. Cunane picked up her third foul late in the third quarter and there was no need for her to return. N.C. State led by 20 heading into the fourth, so Cunane’s 11 points in 16 minutes of work was plenty. Moore will need every minute he can squeeze out of them on Sunday.
“I think it’s cool that we have the depth this time of the year,” Cunane said. “Being able to play a lot of your bench is really special.”
Freshman Jada Boyd was also done for the day after scoring 16 points in 21 minutes. Boyd and classmate Jakia Brown-Turner combined for seven points in the quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech, but had 23 between the two of them on Saturday, perhaps the allure of the big stage worn off.
“Adjusting, getting my feet wet,” Boyd said when asked about her tournament play on day two. “Trying to get in the groove of things. I’m still learning, still growing.”
Brown-Turner had a career-high 18 points against the Noles in the first meeting. In the first showdown with FSU, N.C. State controlled the game and never trailed after being down 6-5 in the first quarter, leading by 15 at the half.
Against Boston College, the Wolfpack (27-4) led by 18 at the break thanks to a dominating second quarter. The Eagles (20-12) couldn’t miss in the first quarter, shooting 79 percent from the floor, led by Emma Guy. The BC senior was 5-for-5 from the floor with 10 points in the opening eight minutes, but like her teammates, would wear down in the second.
Playing their third game in as many days, the Eagles struggled in the second, going 1-for-10 from the floor and went 7:49 without a field goal. The Wolfpack took advantage, outscoring Boston College 25-6 in the second.
“We ended up putting Jada Boyd on (Guy) for a little bit,” Konig said. “That ended up changing the way she was being guarded and that was able to disrupt the offense.”
N.C. State went on a 15-1 run to end the half, highlighted by a three at the buzzer from Jones. They also got a buzzer-beater to end the first quarter from Kai Crutchfield.
“When anybody can hit big shots like that it really excites the team,” Konig said. “I think that was the big momentum changer and really got us into our flow.”
The Wolfpack played so well through three quarters that it didn’t matter that they went 2:47 in the fourth without a field goal. And even though Moore can’t be happy with the way they close out the game, the fact that they get to live to fight another day will make him, and everyone in Wolfpack Nation very happy.
“You saw the fans, the crowd out there,” Moore said. “There was a lot of red! They’ve been awesome. We sold out several games this year down the stretch and our season ticket sales are, like, seven times what they were a few years ago. So we got a lot of momentum and excitement and our fans are awesome so we would love to do that. Also for the players. It’s not easy doing what they do. Obviously they’re students and there is a lot that goes into that, but also just the demands we put on ‘em, the film, the scout, the practice, whatever, walkthroughs.
It’s a lot of work. So you would love for them to be rewarded like that. It would mean everything, as far as, you know, our program and our fans. But like I said, now’s not the time really to sit back and evaluate that. We still have some work to do.”
Boston College pulled to within seven with nine seconds remaining as N.C. State went almost four minutes without a field goal. But it didn’t matter. The Wolfpack closed out the game and now Moore and his staff will spend the next 24 hours focusing on FSU and not so much of giving his team a history lesson on what tomorrow means.
“What I’d like to do is try to finish it (the tournament off),” Moore said. “This isn’t the time to sit back and evaluate your accomplishments.We have to keep preparing, keep going. I told the team in the locker room let’s not spend a lot of time thinking about all the outside stuff, let’s focus on the scout, the film, preparation, like we’ve done all year long and get ready to play one more game.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 5:39 PM.
