Wolfpack Draws Georgia Tech for ACC Tournament Opener
Two days into the ACC women's basketball tournament, NC State has finally learned the identity of its first opponent.
It's seventh-seeded Georgia Tech, which advanced to Friday's 6 p.m. quarterfinal at Greensboro Coliseum with a 68-58 on Thursday. The other quarterfinal matchups have Wake Forest against Florida State, Syracuse against Louisville and Boston College against Duke.
Second-team All-ACC selection Francesca Pan scored 12 of her 26 points in the fourth quarter as the Yellow Jackets (20-10) pulled away late after heading into the final period leading by only one.
Pittsburgh, which won only one ACC game during the regular season, upset No. 10 Notre Dame in an opening round game Wednesday.
The game against Tech is a rematch of the Wolfpack's 65-61 loss at Reynolds Coliseum on Feb. 16, the second of three losses in a four-game stretch for coach Wes Moore's second-seeded team.
Pan was the start of that game, scoring 30 points on 11 of 24 shooting with four three-pointers. Elissa Cunane and Kayla Jones had 17 points each for State, which went just 3 of 13 from beyond the three-point line and was outscored 26-15 in the third quarter.
The Wolfpack (25-4) recovered from its February slump to win its final two regular season games, including an impressive performance at Virginia last Sunday in which it set an NCAA record by making its first 13 three-point attempts.
Thursday's quarterfinal matchup with the Yellow Jackets is the first in what could potentially be a series of three games in three days against teams that beat State during the regular season.
If seedings hold, the Wolfpack would face third-seeded Duke on Friday and No. 1 Louisville in the championship game on Sunday as State attempts to win its first ACC women's tournament title since 1991.
“I would like to say that it is less revenge and more redemption,” said senior guard Aislinn Konig, a second-team All-ACC selection. “I think that we didn’t play up to our capacity in those games, and we missed out on big opportunities to get those wins. I would see it as redemption and really being able to show who we are.”
Friday's game will be televised live on Fox Sports Carolinas/Fox Sports South.
