Duke women beat NC State to capture first ACC title since 2013
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Oluchi Okananwa had 22 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 11 Duke rally from a 14-point deficit to beat No. 7 NC State 76-62 on Sunday for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title.
The win secured the Blue Devils’ first ACC title in a dozen years and their first under coach Kara Lawson.
Okananwa, who came off the bench to match her career high for scoring, was the voted the tournament’s MVP for third-seeded Duke (26-7), which took over after halftime against the tournament’s top seed and regular-season co-champion Wolfpack (26-6).
Ashlon Jackson also scored 22 for Duke.
Aziaha James scored 18 points for NC State, which scored the game’s first seven points and took its largest lead at 24-10 on her 3-pointer early in the second quarter.
The Blue Devils treated Greensboro like a redemption tour, avenging regular-season losses to Louisville, No. 6 Notre Dame and finally NC State to claim their ninth tournament title — this one coming in their first final since 2017.
The Wolfpack, meanwhile, survived a close call against Georgia Tech before beating 14th-ranked rival North Carolina on Saturday to earn the program’s fifth trip to the finals in six seasons. But things steadily went awry after halftime Sunday.
Duke made its third-quarter move with a 10-0 run to break a 46-all tie, starting with Jackson burying a 3-pointer over James followed by Okananwa’s jumper and Jordan Wood’s transition layup to close the third.
Then Okananwa struck again to open the fourth with a straightaway 3, pushing the Blue Devils to a 56-46 lead. That margin wouldn’t slip below six again and grew to 18 late.
The Blue Devils and Wolfpack are both set to start the NCAA Tournament as opening-week hosts.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
JuJu Watkins’ puts on a show with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists to lead USC past Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament. (1:43)
UConn’s Paige Bueckers, USC’s JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo headline the top 15 women’s players on the ballot for the John R. Wooden Award, which was announced on ESPN’s “College GameDay” on Sunday.
Bueckers is coming off a season in which she won Big East Player of the Year for the third time. She led the Huskies to an undefeated conference record while averaging 18.6 points and 5.0 assists in a team-high 29.4 minutes per game. Heading into conference tournament play, she was averaging a 50-40-90 shooting split. Bueckers won the Wooden Award in 2021, becoming the first freshman to ever receive the honor.
Watkins was named Big Ten Player of the Year — the first Trojans player to receive such an honor since 1988, when Cherie Nelson was Pac-10 Player of the Year — while also earning unanimous All-Big Ten First Team and All-Defensive Team honors. Behind Watkins’ 24.7 points per game, USC won a regular-season conference title for the first time since 1994 and plays in Sunday’s Big Ten tournament final against UCLA.
Georgia Amoore, Kentucky
Lauren Betts, UCLA
Madison Booker, Texas
Paige Bueckers, UConn
Audi Crooks, Iowa State
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Aziaha James, NC State
Flau’Jae Johnson, LSU
Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State
Olivia Miles, Notre Dame
Aneesah Morrow, LSU
Sedona Prince, TCU
Sarah Strong, UConn
Hailey Van Lith, TCU
JuJu Watkins, USC
Once a front-runner for the player of the year award, Hidalgo’s play has dropped a bit lately, and the Irish lost to the Blue Devils in the ACC tournament semifinals. Still, Hidalgo put up a strong enough campaign to win ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, making her the third player in conference history to claim both awards in the same season. Hidalgo is averaging 24.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.6 steals, the latter leading the ACC and good for fourth in the country.
Bueckers, Watkins and Hidalgo are joined by two other players on the ballot who won their conference player of the year awards: Texas’ Madison Booker (SEC) and TCU’s Hailey Van Lith (Big 12).
UConn’s Sarah Strong is the only freshman on the top-15 ballot.
Aneesah Morrow was helped off the court after an apparent foot injury in the third quarter vs. Texas. (0:34)
GREENVILLE, S.C. — LSU coach Kim Mulkey said Aneesah Morrow will be available to play in the upcoming NCAA tournament after the senior forward was helped off the floor during the third quarter of Saturday night’s 56-49 loss to No. 1 Texas in the semifinals of the SEC tournament after stepping on an opponent’s foot.
Mulkey also said leading scorer Flau’Jae Johnson, who sat out the tournament with a shin injury in order to prepare for the NCAAs, will also be ready to play for the ninth-ranked Tigers (28-5).
In her postgame news conference at the Bon Secours Wellsness Arena, Mulkey said Morrow aggravated a mid-foot sprain, something that she first injured in the the Tigers’ last game against Texas on Feb. 16. She said Morrow wore a boot some last week when not practicing.
Morrow was seen on the LSU bench wearing the boot in the fourth quarter.
“She’s good to go,” Mulkey said. “I’m not surprised. She was fighting (the athletic training staff) to get back in the game. And they were like, ‘Oh no, we have bigger fish to fry.’ But that’s Aneesah.” … But she can go for the tournament. Everything is good.”
The NCAA tournament committee at times has lowered a team’s seeding based on what players may not be available to play.
Mulkey seemed intent on not letting that happen.
“I know the NCAA sits there and says, ‘Oh they don’t have…,'” Mulkey said. “Well, we have everybody.”
Morrow was making a move toward the basket with LSU trailing by five early in the third quarter when she stepped on Texas forward Taylor Jones’s foot and immediately went down. Morrow remained on the floor being attended to by trainers for several minutes before being helped off the court to the lockerroom.
She was unable to put any pressure on the foot at the time.
Morrow set a school SEC tournament record on Friday when she scored 36 points in a 101-87 quarterfinal win over Florida. She came into Saturday’s game averaging 18.7 points and 14 rebounds per game for the Tigers, who entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed and have national championship aspirations.
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Blue Devils takes home ACC women’s championship, defeating NC State 76-62
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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Oluchi Okananwa had 22 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 11 Duke rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat No. 7 N.C. State 76-62 on Sunday for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title.
The win secured the Blue Devils’ first ACC title in a dozen years and their first under coach Kara Lawson.
Okananwa, who came off the bench to match her career high for scoring, was voted the tournament’s MVP for third-seeded Duke (26-7), which took over after halftime against the tournament’s top seed and regular-season co-champion Wolfpack (26-6).
Ashlon Jackson also scored 22 for Duke.
Aziaha James scored 18 points for N.C. State, which scored the game’s first seven points and took its largest lead at 24-10 on her 3-pointer early in the second quarter.
Duke: The Blue Devils treated Greensboro like a redemption tour, avenging regular-season losses to Louisville, No. 6 Notre Dame and finally N.C. State to claim their ninth tournament title – this one coming in their first final since 2017.
N.C. State: The Wolfpack survived a close call against Georgia Tech before beating 14th-ranked rival North Carolina on Saturday to earn the program’s fifth trip to the finals in six seasons. But things steadily went awry after halftime Sunday.
Duke made its third-quarter move with a 10-0 run to break a 46-all tie, starting with Jackson burying a 3-pointer over James followed by Okananwa’s jumper and Jordan Wood’s transition layup to close the third.
Then Okananwa struck again to open the fourth with a straightaway 3, pushing the Blue Devils to a 56-46 lead. That margin wouldn’t slip below six again and grew to 18 late.
Duke shot 55.2% after halftime and locked down defensively to hold the Wolfpack to 32.3% shooting (10 of 31). Okananwa and Jackson’s 24 points nearly matched the Wolfpack’s team total (26) after halftime.
The Blue Devils and Wolfpack are set to start the NCAA Tournament as opening-week hosts.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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UNC Greensboro
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SoCon
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Tennessee Tech
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Ohio Valley
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Duke
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ACC
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South Carolina
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SEC
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