N.C. St. rallies to beat Irish

Raina Perez decided to come back for one more season and hopefully lift N.C. State to new heights. The senior guard did just that, helping the Wolfpack advance to its first regional final in 24 years.

The senior guard stole the ball at midcourt and made a go-ahead layup with 14 seconds left to send the top-seeded Wolfpack to a 66-63 comeback win over No. 5 Notre Dame on Saturday in Bridgeport, Conn.

It’s the Wolfpack’s first trip to the Elite Eight since 1998 when they reached the Final Four.

N.C. State had lost in the Sweet 16 the previous three tournaments and looked as if it was going to make it four straight until the late rally led by Perez and Kai Crutchfield, who also came back for the extra COVID year granted by the NCAA.

“For this group it would have been hard for me to face the fact they they all came back and we still didn't get over the hump,” N.C. State coach Wes Moore said. “That makes me feel really good and I’m so excited for our program to do this, kind of break through. It took a while, four years of the Sweet 16, to get through that wall.”

It wasn’t the first time that Perez came up huge for the Wolfpack on a big stage. She hit the gamewinning jumper to lift them to the ACC tournament championship last season.

N.C. State (32-3) advanced to the regional final Monday night where it will face second-seeded

UConn.

UConn 75, Indiana 58: Paige Bueckers and Christyn Williams each scored 15 points to lead a balanced UConn offense in a 75-58 win over Indiana to advance the Huskies into their 16th consecutive regional final in Bridgeport, Conn.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds for Connecticut (28-5), which outscored the Hoosiers 46-32 in the paint.

Azzi Fudd added 13 points for the Huskies, who face top-seeded North Carolina State on Monday night in an attempt to earn a 14th straight trip to the Final Four.

Ali Patberg, in her seventh year of college basketball thanks to transfer and COVID-19 rules, had 16 points for the third-seeded Hoosiers (24-9).

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Louisville 76, Tennessee 64: Hailey Van Lith had 23 points and six assists, Emily Engstler had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 1 seed Louisville held off Tennessee to reach the Elite Eight for the fourth consecutive time.

Kianna Smith also had 12 points for the Cardinals (28-4), who blew most of an early 15-point lead before pulling away late in the fourth quarter to set up a date with either No. 3 seed Michigan or 10thseeded South Dakota for a spot in the Final Four.

The Cardinals have become one of the nation’s dominant women’s programs under coach Jeff Walz — much like the Lady Vols were for so many years under Pat Summitt — but are still chasing their first national championship.

Rae Burrell led fourthseeded Tennessee (25-9) with 22 points, but she didn’t get a whole lot of help from her team, which had 18 turnovers.

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