ACC women’s tourney seedings are set
SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame appeared to be spiraling out of Atlantic Coast Conference contention when it lost at home by 16 points to North Carolina State on Feb. 15 for its second defeat in three games and an 8-5 league mark.
Now, though, the Irish — after two authoritative wins over ranked teams in a span of four days — own a share of ACC runner-up honors at 13-5 and a double bye for this week’s 47th annual league tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
No. 17-ranked ND (23-6 overall) will play in Friday’s opening quarterfinal at 11 a.m., possibly against No. 22 Louisville
(23-8, 12-6), after downing the Cardinals 74-58 on Sunday at Purcell Pavilion.
As the fifth seed, Louisville will have to get by Wednesday’s Clemson-Boston College survivor. The Tigers and Eagles (both 5-13 in the ACC) are the 12th and 13th seeds.
“We just really rallied together,” ND coach Niele Ivey said Sunday of what clicked for her team after losing to the Wolfpack. “We acknowledged what we needed to get better at individually and as a team, and they did that, and responded knowing that at this point it was like two weeks left in the season and we don’t have forever. You have to take care of the moment, and I thought we became present in what we were trying to do.”
The current five-game win streak by the Irish started with a 70-62 road victory over Duke and includes knocking off league champion Virginia Tech 71-58 this past Thursday.
The No. 5-ranked Hokies (23-6, 14-4) were surprising 80-75 losers at rival Virginia on Sunday, but already had the top seed clinched.
While ND tied No. 12 NC State and No. 19 Syracuse for second in the standings with its 13-5 mark, the Pack got the second seed and the Orange the third based on head-to-head results among the three teams.
Thus, the Irish, with a win Friday, could encounter Virginia Tech again in Saturday’s noon semifinal, which is the first of the two semis. The Hokies play Friday against the survivor of eighth seed North Carolina (11-7 ACC) and ninth seed Miami (8-10).
The championship is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
Wednesday’s opening round, besides BC-Clemson, includes 11th seed Virginia (7-11) against 14th seed Wake Forest (216) and 10th seed Georgia Tech (7-11) against 15th seed Pittsburgh (2-16).
Sixth-seeded Florida State (12-6) awaits the Virginia-Wake survivor and seventh-seeded Duke (11-7) the Yellow Jacket-Panther winner in Thursday matchups.
Saturday’s final will be televised by ESPN and all other games on ACC Network.