– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA — More often than not in the NCAA Tournament, teams who advance far into the Big Dance usually have to survive a scare early on its way to a deep run. NC State looks as if it got that barnburner-before-proceeding-deep-in-a-tournament out of the way a couple of weeks in advance in preparation for March Madness.
NC State, the top seed in the 2025 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament, advanced to the final after a convincing 66-55 victory over in-state rival and No. 5 seed North Carolina to advance to the championship game for the fifth time in the past six seasons. The victory came after the Wolfpack needed two Aziaha James free throws with 7.1 seconds remaining in squeaking past ninth-seeded Georgia Tech just to make it to Saturday.
With another opportunity to play in the ACC Tournament, the Wolfpack turned up the defense, allowing just five points in the first quarter against the Tar Heels, which were actually the first five points of the game. NC State scored the final 16 points of the quarter and never looked back.
NC State started the third quarter with a 9-2 run as James scored 10 in the frame, and a Saniya Rivers jumper put the Pack up 17 heading into the fourth.
Today marked the second day in a row that North Carolina was limited to five points in a quarter. Unlike against No. 22 Florida State in the quarterfinals, the Tar Heels couldn’t recover.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday’s semifinals, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer William Anthony. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 18 pictures in total.
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