NC State's Raina Perez sank a jumper from near the left elbow with 2.1 seconds left as #5 Louisville lost a heartbreaker 58-56 to the #3 Wolfpack in the ACC Tournament championship game Sunday.
Perez's shot broke a tie game in a down-to-the-wire finish between the two ACC top teams. It was a contest where neither squad led by more than one point over the final four minutes. The win secured the Wolfpack's first back-to-back titles in program history.
Elissa Cunane scored 20 points to lead NC State in scoring. She earned tournament MVP honors and NC State beat the Cardinals for the second time this season.
On the winning play, Perez intended to pass to Cunane in the lane, but the point guard had to hold off when the pass wasn't there. She took the jumper instead and connected for the second-seeded Wolfpack (20-2). It was her only basket of the second half.
Louisville (23-3) had two final chances to win it.
First, a inbounds pass for Hailey Van Lith on the left side of the court was unsuccessful. Then, Dana Evans missed a three-point attempt off a Kianna Smith inbounds pass at the horn. Walz was going for the win and the Evans shot was on-line but grazed the front of the rim.
It was a disappointing final play for Dana after she had difficulties with her shot in the previous two games and the first half Sunday. After starting two for 11 in the finals, Evans got rolling in the third quarter to finish with a team-high 15 points....nine of those in the fourth quarter.
Louisville held a eight-point lead early the in fourth quarter after an Evans three and it looked like the Cards might have NC State on the ropes, but, Cunane had seven of her game-high 21 points in the final quarter to lead the WolfPack comeback. NC State went 10-12 from the charity stripe, the Cards got just four free throw attempts, hitting two of them. NC State won the battle of the boards 35-31. Neither squad had much success from long range -- NC State going 4-18 from beyond the arc and the Cards 4-16.
Jeff Walz after the game:
"I'll take part of it (the loss) . I probably should have called a time-out after that missed (Cunane) free throw because I wanted to run something and get Kianna in the game, but I just didn't want NC State to get set up, so I was trying to go right at them. Unfortunately, it just did not work out for us."
Three Cardinals were named to the ACC ALL-Tournament First Team -- Dana Evans, Hailey Van Lith and Kianna Smith. NC State's Cunane and Kai Crutchfield also were named to the First team. Named to the Second Team were Lorelia Cubaj (Georgia Tech), Emily Engstler (Syracuse), Elizabeth Kitely ( Virginia Tech), Jewel Spear (Wake Forest) and Cameron Swartz (Boston College).
The Cards now wait to see where they'll be seeded in the upcoming NCAA Tournament in San Antonio.
Perez's shot broke a tie game in a down-to-the-wire finish between the two ACC top teams. It was a contest where neither squad led by more than one point over the final four minutes. The win secured the Wolfpack's first back-to-back titles in program history.
Elissa Cunane scored 20 points to lead NC State in scoring. She earned tournament MVP honors and NC State beat the Cardinals for the second time this season.
On the winning play, Perez intended to pass to Cunane in the lane, but the point guard had to hold off when the pass wasn't there. She took the jumper instead and connected for the second-seeded Wolfpack (20-2). It was her only basket of the second half.
Louisville (23-3) had two final chances to win it.
First, a inbounds pass for Hailey Van Lith on the left side of the court was unsuccessful. Then, Dana Evans missed a three-point attempt off a Kianna Smith inbounds pass at the horn. Walz was going for the win and the Evans shot was on-line but grazed the front of the rim.
It was a disappointing final play for Dana after she had difficulties with her shot in the previous two games and the first half Sunday. After starting two for 11 in the finals, Evans got rolling in the third quarter to finish with a team-high 15 points....nine of those in the fourth quarter.
Louisville held a eight-point lead early the in fourth quarter after an Evans three and it looked like the Cards might have NC State on the ropes, but, Cunane had seven of her game-high 21 points in the final quarter to lead the WolfPack comeback. NC State went 10-12 from the charity stripe, the Cards got just four free throw attempts, hitting two of them. NC State won the battle of the boards 35-31. Neither squad had much success from long range -- NC State going 4-18 from beyond the arc and the Cards 4-16.
Jeff Walz after the game:
"I'll take part of it (the loss) . I probably should have called a time-out after that missed (Cunane) free throw because I wanted to run something and get Kianna in the game, but I just didn't want NC State to get set up, so I was trying to go right at them. Unfortunately, it just did not work out for us."
Three Cardinals were named to the ACC ALL-Tournament First Team -- Dana Evans, Hailey Van Lith and Kianna Smith. NC State's Cunane and Kai Crutchfield also were named to the First team. Named to the Second Team were Lorelia Cubaj (Georgia Tech), Emily Engstler (Syracuse), Elizabeth Kitely ( Virginia Tech), Jewel Spear (Wake Forest) and Cameron Swartz (Boston College).
The Cards now wait to see where they'll be seeded in the upcoming NCAA Tournament in San Antonio.
