ACC women’s basketball tournament: Florida State never trails, tops Louisville 66-51

Florida State took a massive early lead and never let it go, topping first-year member Louisville 66-51 in the second semifinal of the ACC women’s basketball tournament on Saturday at Greensboro Coliseum.

No. 2 seed Florida State (29-3) will take on top-seeded defending champion Notre Dame (30-2) in the championship game on Sunday at 1.

Ivey Slaughter’s 17 points led the No. 7 Seminoles, who will play in their first final, while Maegan Conwright and Shakayla Thomas added 12 each.

Sunday’s contest will mark just the second time since the tournament moved to Greensboro in 2000 that two out-of-state teams have met for the title (Maryland defeated Georgia Tech in 2012).

Only once before have two schools that were not charter members of the ACC (Virginia vs. Georgia Tech in 1992 in Rock Hill, S.C.) played for the title.

No. 3 seed Louisville (25-6), currently ranked No. 10 nationally, will play in the NCAA tournament.

Mariya Moore had 17 points and Shawnta Dyer eight with 13 rebounds for the Cardinals.

The Seminoles led 33-9 on a pair of Slaughter free throws with 5 minutes, 34 seconds left in the first half.

Louisville’s closest approach was 45-43 on Moore’s 3-pointer with 9:11 left.

This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 6:36 PM with the headline "ACC women’s basketball tournament: Florida State never trails, tops Louisville 66-51."