GREENSBORO, NC (AP) – Raina Perez hit a jumper close to the left elbow with 2.1 seconds remaining to help No. 3 North Carolina State beat fifth-placed Louisville 58-56 in the Atlantic Coast Sunday championship game Conference Tournament.
Perez’s shot broke the tie in a tense finish between two of the best teams in the country, in which none of them led by more than one point in the last 4 minutes. And it secured the first consecutive Wolfpack titles in the program’s history.
In the winning move, Perez initially started to pass to colleague Elissa Cunane rolling onto the track, but had to pull the ball back when the pass was not there. Instead, she composed herself and got rid of six consecutive mistakes that dated from the second half to bury the jumper for the Wolfpack of the second seed (20-2).
The cardinals with the best selection (23-3) had a final chance of winning, passing the ball under their own basket 1 second from the end. But Dana Evans lost a 3-pass to Kianna Smith on the horn, making Wolfpack players run to the center court to celebrate.
No. 4 STANFORD 75, No. 9 UCLA 55
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Kiana Williams scored 26 points and took Stanford to the Pac 12 Tournament with a victory over UCLA.
Stanford, who played the Pac-12 championship 18 times in 20 tournaments in total, improved to 14-4 in the finals while winning his third title in five years.
Lexie Hull added 24 points, while Haley Jones finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds for Stanford (25-2).
Michaela Onyen led UCLA (16-5) with 30 points. Charisma Osborne finished with 11 points and five rebounds for Bruins.
The game was a renewal of one of the best-known rivalries in Pac 12 postseason history, as Stanford played more at UCLA than any other team in the Pac-12 Tournament. The cardinal improved to 11-1 against the Bruins in the event – including four victories in league matches.
Nº 7 SOUTH CAROLINA 67, Nº 16 GEORGIA 62
GREENVILLE, SC (AP) – Aliyah Boston had 27 points and 10 rebounds in South Carolina’s third quarter victory to beat Georgia and win their second consecutive SEC Tournament title – and sixth in the past seven years.
It was a historic fight that featured the participation of two black technicians in the title game for the first time in SEC history with Dawn Staley of South Carolina and Joni Taylor of Georgia.
Gamecocks (22-4), twice the country’s number one team this season, have battled down with three defeats in their last seven games, including a defeat at No. 2 Texas A&M a week ago, where they watched the Aggies cut networks to celebrate a SEC regular season title.
The Bulldogs closed to 65-62 on Que Morrison’s 3 points with 14.4 seconds remaining. Boston then went on with a couple of free kicks and South Carolina held on to its 14th straight win over Georgia. Morrison finished with 20 points for the Bulldogs (20-6).
No. 1 UCONN 84, VILLANOVA 39
UNCASVILLE, Connecticut (AP) – Christyn Williams scored 26 points and UConn used a stifling defense to defeat Villanova in the Big East Tournament semifinals.
Paige Bueckers had 18 points and eight assists and Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 13 points and seven rebounds for Connecticut (23-1).
The Huskies will dispute the 19th Big East title in their first year back in the league, after spending seven seasons dominating the American Athletic Conference.
Connecticut ended the game in the first half, holding Villanova with just five baskets in 33 kicks in the first 20 minutes (15%) and beating the Wildcats by 20-3 in the second quarter.
The Wildcats had only 15 baskets in the game, with 18% of pitches from the ground.
Sarah Mortensen had 15 points to lead Villanova (15-6). Maddy Siegrist, Big East’s top scorer, added his team’s first points in a three-point play, but went without goals for the rest of the match.
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