No. 10 NC State Women Win 2020 ACC Tournament Title (original) (raw)
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GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -
Aislinn Konig and Elissa Cunane each scored 18 points and 10th-ranked North Carolina State won its first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in 29 years, beating No. 22 Florida State 71-66 on Sunday.
Jakia Brown-Turner added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolfpack (28-4) in a tightly contested game in which neither team lead by more than six points throughout.
Kiah Gillespie had 25 points and nine rebounds for Florida State (24-8). Nausia Woolfork and Nicki Ekhomu each had 17 for the Seminoles, who have never won the ACC tourney title.
Konig proved to be a difference-maker in the second half and was chosen the tournament's most outstanding player.
''This is an amazing team - and this is my family,'' Konig said. ''This has been my family for four years.''
After making just one of her first six shots in the first half, she went of 5 of 7 after the break, including three 3-pointers.
''We didn't shoot it really well in the first half,'' Wolfpack coach Wes Moore said. ''But we knocked them down when we needed to.''
The game ultimately came down to a free throw shooting contest.
Cunane made 10 of 14 foul shots.
''For our system, you have to have someone like that inside,'' Moore said of Cunane, who grew up just minutes from the Greensboro Coliseum.
With the score tied at 63, Cunane made one of two free throws and Kayla Jones added another foul shot to push the lead to two with 1:03 left in the game. Brown-Turner got a huge offensive rebound on Jones' miss on the second shot and was fouled. She made both free throws to make it a two-possession game.
Gillespie cut the lead to three when she made one of two free throws with 50 seconds left. Cunane was fouled again with 43 seconds left and made one of two to increase the NC State lead back to four.
Ekhomu's two foul shots cut the Wolfpack's lead to 68-66 with 39 seconds left. Cunane went back to the line with 21 seconds left and again made of one of two.
Down by three, the Seminoles got an open look for Woolfolk, but she missed a 3-pointer from the left wing and Cunane grabbed the rebound and was fouled. This time she made both free throws with 13.8 seconds left to help seal the win.
2020 ACC All-Tournament Team
First Team
Aislinn Konig, NC State - MVP
Kiah Gillespie, Florida State
Nausia Woolfolk, Florida State
Dana Evans, Louisville
Ivan Raca, Wake Forest
Second Team
Taylor Soule, Boston College
Nicki Ekhomu, Florida State
Francesca Pan, Georgia Tech
Jazmine Jones, Louisville
Elissa Cunane, NC State
OF NOTE
- The Wolfpack captured its first ACC Tournament title since 1991.
- FSU led 63-58 with 3:45 remaining in the fourth quarter to cap a 10-0 Seminoles run, before the Wolfpack responded by outscoring FSU 13-3 the remainder of the contest.
- Extended droughts to end both halves proved costly for the Seminoles (4:10 to end 1st half, 3:45 to end 2nd half)
- Tournament MVP Aislinn Konig extends her streak of games with at least one three-point basket to six.
- The Wolfpack outran the Seminoles 8-0 in fast break points for the contest. (19-2 on the season when they outscore their opponent in fast break points)
- NC State’s Jakia Brown-Turner’s key offensive rebound inside of a minute finished off her double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds)
- The Seminoles were able to win the turnover battle (10-5) but the Wolfpack turned those five turnovers into five points…which proved to be the final margin of the contest.
- NC State improves to 23-2 when they out-rebound (41-30) their opponent.
UP NEXT
Both teams will await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show to learn which seed it will be for the tournament.