Louisville advances to semis with 59-58 win over NC State (Mar 3, 2017)
CONWAY, S.C. (AP) It always seems to come down to the last second when Louisville and North Carolina State play lately.
This time the Cardinals came out on top.
Asia Durr scored 28 points to help No. 14 Louisville beat the 17th-ranked Wolfpack 59-58 on Friday in the ACC tournament quarterfinals.
The fifth-seeded Cardinals (27-6) advance to the semifinals for the third consecutive season where they will play top-seed Notre Dame.
Trailing 58-57 with 19.4 seconds left Myisha Hines-Allen hit two free throws for the Cardinals.
''Every time we play them it comes down to the very end and shows how critical every possession is throughout a game,'' N.C. State coach Wes Moore said.
N.C. State had a final chance but Miah Spencer missed a shot in the lane and DD Rodgers' follow was no good.
''Spencer got a good shot, it's a shot she could make,'' Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. ''What we didn't do a good job of was rebounding it there. They came up with a big board, had a great look, fortunate it didn't go in. ''
The two teams met in early February and N.C. State came away with a two-point win in overtime on a last-second shot by Spencer from nearly the same spot she missed on Friday. Last season's only meeting was also a two-point game.
Louisville held N.C. State without a basket for 5 1/2 minutes going up 57-53 on Mariya Moore's basket midway through the final period. Chelsea Nelson made two free throws and Dominique Wilson hit a 3-pointer with 1:35 left to give the Wolfpack (22-8) a 58-57 lead, ending the long field goal drought.
After both teams had empty possession, Hines-Allen was fouled with 19.4 seconds left.
On a play a few seconds earlier N.C. State (22-8) was called for a kick ball as a Louisville player was falling out of bounds and threw it back in. Moore wasn't happy with the call.
''We were up one at the time and would have ball with 30 seconds left, pretty critical play. Very critical,'' Moore said.
The Wolfpack had to overcome the loss of guard Jennifer Mathurin, who hurt her knee in the first half on a play.
''We think she'll be alright'', Moore said. ''She had a sprained knee and had some pain with it. We held her out today and she should be good to go for the postseason.''
Spencer scored 18 points to lead N.C. State.
