GREENSBORO, N.C. – In Saturday’s second semifinal matchup in the 2015 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum, the second-seeded Florida State Seminoles ran past No. 3 seed Louisville, 66-51, to earn a spot in the Championship final against the top-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday.
With the win, Florida State reached its first ever ACC Championship game in its 23rd ACC Tournament appearance.
Despite the loss, Louisville finished with another 20-win season – its fifth consecutive out of seven years overall under head coach Jeff Walz.
What they said:
“I mean it’s an ACC semifinal,” Florida State coach Sue Semrau said.
“Both teams made runs. We had to answer. I told the players in the locker room that Louisville led for zero minutes. And it felt like they led. But for us to jump out and to be able to sustain their run, I thought that was and I thought both teams made runs, because they were playing great defense. Louisville played great defense during their run, we played great defense during both of our runs.”
“Congratulations to Florida State,” Walz said.
“I thought they came out with a lot of energy – played extremely hard – did a great job of executing in the first half. We were extremely poor again. I mean it’s twice that we played them and unfortunately, they come out two times, and I’ll take the blame for it. I’ve got to figure out a way to get some of these kids motivated to get going, to get the games off to a better start. You get down I think it’s 24 in the first half and then you climb all the way back and get it to a 2 point game and then you expend so much energy to just get back to that point that you have a breakdown. And we give up a wide open three. So, you know, it’s things we have to figure out, our kids have to figure out. We have to figure out as a staff. Because you can’t play somebody twice now and spot them 20 points each game and then expect to win. Because we’re sitting there in a 2 point game with, I don’t know, about a 10 or 11 minutes to go, and if you show up at all, to start it off, it’s probably a different outcome.”
Notes:
Florida State
The Seminoles tied the single-season school record for wins at 29 with the win over the Cardinals.
Florida State center Adut Bulgak has made a 3-pointer in nine of her last 13 games.
Sophomore Ivey Slaughter poured in 17 points, only one shy of her season-high.
Louisville
Shawnta Dyer recorded a season-high 13 rebounds while adding eight points.
Mariya Moore was the only Cardinal in double figures as she dropped 17 points in the loss.