No. 22 UNC women crush No. 11 Duke’s ACC title hopes
Three players scored nine points and No. 22 North Carolina went 9 of 9 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to deny No. 11 Duke a share of the ACC championship on Sunday with a 45-41 win, the lowest scoring game in the 105 meetings of these bitter rivals.
Combined with No. 10 Notre Dame coming from behind to win at Louisville, the Irish win the conference title outright.
In 112 quarters this season, North Carolina (20-9, 11-7) failed to reach double figures just five times but only scored eight in each of the first two quarters to trail 20-16. Duke was in single digits in both the second and third quarters, for 10 on the season.
Elizabeth Balogun led Duke (24-5, 14-4), which was 13-0 at home, with 12 points.
North Carolina shot 34% (15 of 21) with 21 turnovers but went 12 of 15 from the foul line. Duke shot 30% (16 of 53) but was only 5 of 6 from the line and had 25 turnovers. NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 73, GEORGIA 63 >> Aliyah Boston had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Zia Cooke added 12 points as South Carolina completed a perfect Southeastern Conference season with a victory over Georgia.
Boston and Cooke, part of “The Freshies” topranked 2019 recruiting class, celebrated their Senior Day with pre-game tears, then followed with another fabulous showing as the Gamecocks (29-0, 160) won their 35th straight and their seventh SEC title in the past 10 seasons.
Georgia (20-10, 9-7) kept things uncomfortably close into the second quarter before the Gamecocks pulled away for their 17th straight victory in the series. Diamond Battles led the Bulldogs with 20 points.
South Carolina heads to next week’s SEC Tournament — only a twohour drive from campus in Greenville — as heavy favorites to recapture the crown that eluded them a year ago. NO. 6 IOWA 86, NO. 2 INDIANA
85 >> Caitlin Clark’s buzzerbeating 3-pointer lifted Iowa to a win over Indiana. Clark, who scored 34 points and added nine rebounds and nine assists, took the inbound pass from Kate Martin with 1.5 seconds left, dribbled once, and took an off-balance shot from the right side that rolled in as the horn sounded.
Indiana had held the Hawkeyes without a field goal in the final 1:30, taking an 85-83 lead on Mackenzie Holmes’ two free throws. NO. 9 VIRGINIA TECH 65, GEORGIA TECH 52 >> Elizabeth Kitley scored a seasonhigh 29 points and added 11 rebounds to lead Virginia Tech to a victory over Georgia Tech.
Kayana Traylor added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Georgia Amoore had eight points, seven assists and two steals for Virginia Tech (24-4, 14-4 ACC).