Cunane, No. 10 NC State women beat Georgia Tech 57-48 in ACC

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Elissa Cunane had 14 of her 16 points after halftime to help No. 10 North Carolina State beat Georgia Tech 57-48 in Friday’s quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

Aislinn Konig added 16 points for the second-seeded Wolfpack (26-4), who lost the only regular-season meeting and had fits trying to shake free of the seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets in this one. Jakia Brown-Turner added a critical 3-pointer with 1:15 left to beat the shot clock, helping the Wolfpack finally close this one out after trailing by 14 in the second quarter.

Kierra Fletcher had 15 points and nine rebounds for Georgia Tech (20-11), while Francesca Pan – who had a career-best 30 in the first meeting – also had 15 points with eight boards.

Cunane, averaging a team-best 16.5 points and 10 rebounds, shot 1 for 3 in the opening half while sitting significant stretches with two fouls. But she went 6 of 11 from the field after the break, repeatedly getting deep post position and scoring in the post on a night when the Wolfpack’s 3-point shooting was off-target.

N.C. State missed 20 of its first 25 shots, but ran off an 18-0 run spanning halftime to get back in it and play from in front nearly the entire rest of the way.

BIG PICTURE

Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets had reached the ACC quarterfinals for the first time since 2016 by beating Pittsburgh in Thursday’s second round. And that gave them another shot at the Wolfpack with a chance to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume as a potential bubble team. They led 21-7 early and were tied at 42 when Pan rattled in a shot in the lane with 5:49 left – but Georgia Tech couldn’t push back in front.

N.C. State: The Wolfpack started the year 22-1 and reaching No. 4 in the AP Top 25 along with lone possession of first in the ACC before losing to Louisville, starting a run of three losses in four games that included the Feb. 16 loss to the Yellow Jackets. N.C. State closed by beating Syracuse and Virginia to seemingly rebuild momentum, but Wes Moore’s club found itself down early then unable to put Georgia Tech away after pushing ahead by eight midway through the third quarter. The Wolfpack did enough to grind this one out, with Konig going 4 for 4 at the line after Brown-Turner’s 3 to help seal it.

UP NEXT

Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets must wait to find out their postseason fate.

N.C. State: The Wolfpack advanced to Saturday’s semifinals to face the Boston College-Duke winner.

___

More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

___

Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap