NC State loses to Notre Dame, 66-60, in ACC tourney quarterfinals

NC State’s hot shooting from Thursday carried over into the first quarter on Friday afternoon, but unfortunately that’s also where it ended, and the Wolfpack run of ACC tournament titles is officially over.

The second quarter was rough all around, as neither team scored in the first four minutes. NC State managed only four points on 2-13 shooting in the period, and the Irish scored the final seven points of the half to take a three-point edge into the break.

Notre Dame started fast in the third quarter and State ended up playing from behind by 5-10 points for the bulk of the second half. The Wolfpack’s shooting didn’t much improve, and the team didn’t hit a three until the fourth quarter, which is not a recipe for success against a better team. It certainly wasn’t good enough today.

Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers paced NC State with 14 points each, but they needed a combined 32 field goal attempts to net those 28 points. The Irish’s Sonia Citron matched that point total on 8-18 shooting—she was also 11-15 at the free throw line.

State fought back from down 14 in the fourth to pull within five after a flagrant foul on Notre Dame in the last minute, but Brown-Turner’s three-pointer to cut the lead to two was off, and that was that. They fought, but they didn’t have enough.

So ends a 10-game ACC tourney winning streak for the Pack, which is out for the first time since 2019. It’s been a hell of a run.

Now NC State will await its NCAA draw; the Pack is not going to be a top-16 team in the field and so will be hitting the road for the first weekend.