Photo by: Andy Mead
Eagles Await NCAA Fate After ACC Semifinals
March 08, 2020 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
Cinderella run temporarily ends despite furious fourth quarter comeback.
Throughout the entire 2019-20 season, Boston College women's basketball head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee never mentioned the NCAA Tournament. She never estimated her team's chances of dancing in March and never wanted to fill her players' heads with a future fantasy. She would only focus on the Eagles' next game and challenge with a one-track mind on the present tense.
Following BC's 82-75 defeat against NC State on Saturday, Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, the coach that always looked at the present tense, finally gave herself the moment to appeal to the NCAA Selection Committee.
"I just hope we get to show the NCAA Tournament what we're made of," she said, "because I'm proud of the fight these ladies had."
With the win, NC State advanced to the ACC Tournament championship and defeated No. 5 Florida State, 71-66. The Seminoles advanced by upsetting top-seeded Louisville in the first game on Saturday.
The loss ended the first chapter of the 2019-20 season short of a Cinderella ending for the Eagles. BC entered the season as the preseason No. 13 selection in the 15-team ACC but persevered to finish tied for fourth place. Tiebreakers forced the team into the No. 6 seed for this week's ACC Tournament, but the Eagles still earned a bye to the second round on Thursday to await a winner of a first round game.
BC beat Clemson in that game, 85-73, to advance to a Friday quarterfinal game against No. 3 Duke. There, the Eagles trailed the Blue Devils by seven with five minutes left before closing the game on a 14-0 run, advancing with an 84-77 victory.
It gave BC approximately 14 hours of rest before its third game and three days, but the Eagles again shook off rust and exhaustion to pressure NC State in the first quarter. Emma Guy shot a perfect 5-for-5 as part of a larger 11-for-14 percentage for team, opening up a larger seven point lead with 30 seconds left in the period.
The advantage didn't hold. NC State out-rebounded BC, 9-5, in the first quarter with seven offensive boards, and two quick three pointers inside the last 12 seconds of the first pulled the Wolfpack back within one when the period ended. In the second, BC's shot, which was well over 78 percent in the first, went stone cold, and NC State quickly overcame the deficit with a 25-6 quarter to lead, 48-30 at the break.
"They were lights out (in the first quarter) and we were kind of lights out," McNamee said. "In the second quarter, I think we continued not to play defense that we're capable of playing, but then we didn't make shots. That compounded on each other and made for just a really terrible second quarter."
NC State used its composure to maintain that lead in the third, but BC staged a furious fourth-quarter comeback against the Wolfpack by scoring 30 points in the final 10 minutes. Taylor Ortlepp went 4-for-4 in the quarter, all from outside, and Georgia Pineau, who scored her 1,000th career point against Duke, added six points and five rebounds, including two on offense. Makayla Dickens added five points, three rebounds and two assists.
"I challenged the team at halftime," McNamee said. "I wasn't happy with what we looked like on the boards, and neither were (the players). They know what they're made of and capable of, and we weren't doing it. We had two offensive rebounds in the first half, and we ended up with 12, so it was much better in the second half.
"NC State is an awesome team," she analyzed. "They play hard. They play the right way and get after it, and we, in that second quarter, didn't necessarily step up to the challenge that we needed to. It really started because we weren't making shots, and that tricked into our defense. We are usually not like that. We cleared that up in the second half."
The Eagles now enter Selection Monday with their first 20-win season since 2010. The team, which entered the ACC season as an afterthought and the conference tournament as a bubble-out team, is absolutely in the mix for a national tournament position.
The latest projections on Sunday morning positioned BC as the first team outside the bubble of the 64-team field. Georgia Tech, which started the ACC Tournament as a lower seed than the Eagles, officially fell below BC after losing in the quarterfinal round to NC State. BC is still facing a blockade, though, from four mid-major teams currently still playing in their respective conference tournaments.
Of those four, James Madison is the most likely team to earn an at-large bid after beating William & Mary in the Colonial Athletic Association's last regular season game. At 25-4 overall, the Dukes are the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and await either Elon or Hofstra in the quarterfinal round. They tied Drexel for the regular season championship and are expected to advance this week to at least the semifinals in a tournament running through this week.
That's a slight difference from Old Dominion, which lost to Rice in its regular season finale. It clinched the regular season championship for the Owls and ensured the Lady Monarchs would enter the Conference USA Tournament this week as the No. 2 seed. They will play either UTEP or Florida Atlantic on Thursday.
ODU's path to the tournament will likely cross paths with Western Kentucky, the No. 3 seed in the C-USA Tournament. The Hilltoppers will play either Charlotte or North Texas on Thursday with a potential collision course game against the Lady Monarchs in the semifinals. ODU won the teams' only meeting back in January, 76-65.
The fourth team in the mix - Central Florida - is arguably the field's biggest wildcard. The Knights punished Wichita State on Saturday, 65-32, in their first game in the American Athletic Conference Championship, to push to the semifinals against No. 3 Cincinnati. The winner is likely to draw Connecticut in the conference championship game on Monday night in a game being hosted at Mohegan Sun Arena.
It's a virtual home situation for the Huskies, who are unlikely to earn a No. 1 seed in the national tournament. UConn hasn't lost a conference championship game since Notre Dame won the Big East in 2013, and Geno Auriemma's team holds every AAC championship trophy since the league formed in 2014. In total, UConn has played in 15 consecutive conference championship games, winning 13.
The last conference championship game it didn't qualify for came in 2004, when Boston College won the Big East championship at the Hartford Civic Center.
All four of those teams outrank BC in the Women's Basketball RPI standings, but the Eagles are the only power conference represented. BC is also likely to pull forward if Florida State wins on Sunday since the Eagles defeated the Seminoles earlier this season. Five teams are currently in the NCAA Tournament, per ESPN's Bracketology, but it would become very difficult to leave a semifinalist out of the tournament with the number of wins posted this season inside conference play.
Conference tournaments will continue throughout the week, ending next week when Selection Monday unveils the 64-team field. It will be televised on ESPN, beginning at 7 p.m.
Following BC's 82-75 defeat against NC State on Saturday, Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, the coach that always looked at the present tense, finally gave herself the moment to appeal to the NCAA Selection Committee.
"I just hope we get to show the NCAA Tournament what we're made of," she said, "because I'm proud of the fight these ladies had."
With the win, NC State advanced to the ACC Tournament championship and defeated No. 5 Florida State, 71-66. The Seminoles advanced by upsetting top-seeded Louisville in the first game on Saturday.
The loss ended the first chapter of the 2019-20 season short of a Cinderella ending for the Eagles. BC entered the season as the preseason No. 13 selection in the 15-team ACC but persevered to finish tied for fourth place. Tiebreakers forced the team into the No. 6 seed for this week's ACC Tournament, but the Eagles still earned a bye to the second round on Thursday to await a winner of a first round game.
BC beat Clemson in that game, 85-73, to advance to a Friday quarterfinal game against No. 3 Duke. There, the Eagles trailed the Blue Devils by seven with five minutes left before closing the game on a 14-0 run, advancing with an 84-77 victory.
It gave BC approximately 14 hours of rest before its third game and three days, but the Eagles again shook off rust and exhaustion to pressure NC State in the first quarter. Emma Guy shot a perfect 5-for-5 as part of a larger 11-for-14 percentage for team, opening up a larger seven point lead with 30 seconds left in the period.
The advantage didn't hold. NC State out-rebounded BC, 9-5, in the first quarter with seven offensive boards, and two quick three pointers inside the last 12 seconds of the first pulled the Wolfpack back within one when the period ended. In the second, BC's shot, which was well over 78 percent in the first, went stone cold, and NC State quickly overcame the deficit with a 25-6 quarter to lead, 48-30 at the break.
"They were lights out (in the first quarter) and we were kind of lights out," McNamee said. "In the second quarter, I think we continued not to play defense that we're capable of playing, but then we didn't make shots. That compounded on each other and made for just a really terrible second quarter."
NC State used its composure to maintain that lead in the third, but BC staged a furious fourth-quarter comeback against the Wolfpack by scoring 30 points in the final 10 minutes. Taylor Ortlepp went 4-for-4 in the quarter, all from outside, and Georgia Pineau, who scored her 1,000th career point against Duke, added six points and five rebounds, including two on offense. Makayla Dickens added five points, three rebounds and two assists.
"I challenged the team at halftime," McNamee said. "I wasn't happy with what we looked like on the boards, and neither were (the players). They know what they're made of and capable of, and we weren't doing it. We had two offensive rebounds in the first half, and we ended up with 12, so it was much better in the second half.
"NC State is an awesome team," she analyzed. "They play hard. They play the right way and get after it, and we, in that second quarter, didn't necessarily step up to the challenge that we needed to. It really started because we weren't making shots, and that tricked into our defense. We are usually not like that. We cleared that up in the second half."
The Eagles now enter Selection Monday with their first 20-win season since 2010. The team, which entered the ACC season as an afterthought and the conference tournament as a bubble-out team, is absolutely in the mix for a national tournament position.
The latest projections on Sunday morning positioned BC as the first team outside the bubble of the 64-team field. Georgia Tech, which started the ACC Tournament as a lower seed than the Eagles, officially fell below BC after losing in the quarterfinal round to NC State. BC is still facing a blockade, though, from four mid-major teams currently still playing in their respective conference tournaments.
Of those four, James Madison is the most likely team to earn an at-large bid after beating William & Mary in the Colonial Athletic Association's last regular season game. At 25-4 overall, the Dukes are the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and await either Elon or Hofstra in the quarterfinal round. They tied Drexel for the regular season championship and are expected to advance this week to at least the semifinals in a tournament running through this week.
That's a slight difference from Old Dominion, which lost to Rice in its regular season finale. It clinched the regular season championship for the Owls and ensured the Lady Monarchs would enter the Conference USA Tournament this week as the No. 2 seed. They will play either UTEP or Florida Atlantic on Thursday.
ODU's path to the tournament will likely cross paths with Western Kentucky, the No. 3 seed in the C-USA Tournament. The Hilltoppers will play either Charlotte or North Texas on Thursday with a potential collision course game against the Lady Monarchs in the semifinals. ODU won the teams' only meeting back in January, 76-65.
The fourth team in the mix - Central Florida - is arguably the field's biggest wildcard. The Knights punished Wichita State on Saturday, 65-32, in their first game in the American Athletic Conference Championship, to push to the semifinals against No. 3 Cincinnati. The winner is likely to draw Connecticut in the conference championship game on Monday night in a game being hosted at Mohegan Sun Arena.
It's a virtual home situation for the Huskies, who are unlikely to earn a No. 1 seed in the national tournament. UConn hasn't lost a conference championship game since Notre Dame won the Big East in 2013, and Geno Auriemma's team holds every AAC championship trophy since the league formed in 2014. In total, UConn has played in 15 consecutive conference championship games, winning 13.
The last conference championship game it didn't qualify for came in 2004, when Boston College won the Big East championship at the Hartford Civic Center.
All four of those teams outrank BC in the Women's Basketball RPI standings, but the Eagles are the only power conference represented. BC is also likely to pull forward if Florida State wins on Sunday since the Eagles defeated the Seminoles earlier this season. Five teams are currently in the NCAA Tournament, per ESPN's Bracketology, but it would become very difficult to leave a semifinalist out of the tournament with the number of wins posted this season inside conference play.
Conference tournaments will continue throughout the week, ending next week when Selection Monday unveils the 64-team field. It will be televised on ESPN, beginning at 7 p.m.
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