ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament: Notre Dame handles Miami, sets date with Duke

ACC player of the year Jewell Loyd had 16 points as Notre Dame avenged its only conference loss with a 77-61 win over Miami in the quarterfinals of the ACC women’s basketball tournament at Greensboro Coliseum.

ACC freshman of the year Brianna Turner added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Notre Dame, while Taya Reimer and Madison Cable chipped in 13 points apiece and Kathryn Westbeld 10.

The No. 8 seed Hurricanes (19-12), who had eliminated No. 9 seed Virginia in the first round, defeated Notre Dame 78-63 on Jan. 8 in Coral Gables and may be on the NCAA bubble. No other team besides Connecticut has beaten Notre Dame in the past two seasons.

The win propelled the top-seeded, defending champion Irish (29-2) into Saturday’s noon semifinal against No. 4 seed Duke (21-9). Notre Dame defeated the visiting Blue Devils 63-50 on Feb. 16.

Jessica Thomas had 24 points and Jassany Williams 16 for Miami.

Florida State 82, Virginia Tech 43: Shakayla Thomas’ 17 points led four players in double figures as second-seeded Florida State drubbed No. 15 Virginia Tech.

Leticia Romero, Kai James and and Maegan Conwright scored 11 each for the Seminoles, who had won their regular-season meeting 59-44 in Blacksburg and led Friday’s game wire to wire.

FSU (28-3) will play in Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. semifinal against the winner of Friday’s late game between No. 3 seed Louisville and No. 6 seed North Carolina.

Vanessa Panousis and Rachel Camp had nine points each to lead Virginia Tech (12-20).

The Hokies had gained the third round by taking out No. 10 seed N.C. State 57-56 in the first round on Wednesday and No. 7 seed Pittsburgh 51-45 in the second round on Thursday.

This story was originally published March 6, 2015 at 9:49 PM with the headline "ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament: Notre Dame handles Miami, sets date with Duke."