The North Carolina Tar Heels women’s team came from 14 points down at the half to defeat favored Maryland 72-65 to set up their eighth ACC title game appearance against Duke in the Greensboro Coliseum’s 14-year history as the event’s host.
Heels top Terps
Backup point guard Latifah Coleman, running the offense with starter Tierra Ruffin-Pratt sick and in foul trouble, scored 15 of her career-high 17 points in the final 6:04 to lead third-seeded North Carolina to the second-biggest halftime comeback in ACC Tournament history on Saturday, a 72-65 win over No. 2 Maryland in which the Tar Heels trailed by 14 at the break.
“We shipped her in from Mars this morning,” North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell opined after her team earned a spot in the championship game for the 15th time in the past 20 years.
Coleman, for her part, had no objection to the extraterrestrial explanation. Bugged by a quadriceps injury this season, she scored 34 points in all of February.
The comeback, as measured by halftime deficit overcome in victory, is surpassed in ACC Tournament history only by Duke in the 1995 semifinals against Virginia. The Blue Devils trailed 40-20 at the break that day and won 83-82 in overtime.
North Carolina did most of the heavy lifting in its comeback early in the second half with an 18-3 run. The Heels then failed on three chances to tie, and the Terrapins increased the lead back to seven shortly after Ruffin-Pratt picked up her fourth foul with 10:25 to play.
The Heels needed a heroine, and when Coleman drilled a 3-point field goal with 6:04 to play, the game was even at 52. And a trend had been established.
“Coach told me to be a leader,” she said. “I hit that first 3-pointer, got in a rhythm and didn’t stop from there.”
She then put her team up 54-53 – its first lead since the opening minutes – and delivered a runner down the lane with 3:44 to play to stretch the lead to four. The Terrapins’ Alyssa Thomas, who fell three assists short of another triple-double after getting one on Friday, made it 62-61 with two minutes left.
The Terrapins, in need of a stop, couldn’t halt the suddenly resurgent and confident Coleman, who hit again with 1:48 to play.
“She caught fire,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “We tried to switch up on her. We put Katie Rutan, our best defender, on her. Then we went with (Thomas) for size.”
Duke defeats Florida State
Point guard Alexis Jones contributed two assists, a steal and two field goals in the decisive stretch Saturday as top-seeded Duke broke from the second and final tie of the game and defeated fourth seed Florida State 72-64 in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
The Seminoles battled back after surrendering the game’s first nine points, and drew even for the first time on Yashira Delgado’s free throws with 5:18 left. The Seminoles made it 58-58 when Leonor Rodriguez hit a 3-point field goal with 4:40 to play, but Jones then began to take over.
Her no-look assist to Richa Jackson made it 62-58, and her steal and breakaway layup at the 2:08 mark highlighted an eventual 10-2 run that advanced the Blue Devils (29-2) to the championship game for the 11th time in the past 14 years and diminished memories of a quarterfinal exit in 2012.
“It feels good,” said Tricia Liston, who joined Haley Peters with game-highs of 17 points. “We proved we wanted to be here and wanted to win. Tournament play is fun, and going to the championship game is always exciting.”