No. 14 Tar Heel women dominate boards, freshman Grant clutch at line in 60-56 win over No. 22 FSU

By Canadian Press on March 7, 2025.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Alyssa Ustby scored 12 points and grabbed 18 rebounds and freshman Lanie Grant made two free throws with 7.3 seconds left to give No. 14 North Carolina a 60-56 win over No. 22 Florida State in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Friday.

Reniya Kelly, who missed the previous three games with an injury, hit a jumper with just over a minute remaining to give the Tar Heels the lead and she connected again near the foul line to make it 58-54 with 20.4 seconds left.

Ta’Niya Latson made two free throws for the Seminoles with 11.4 to go but then they had to foul three times before Grant went to the line. The 2024 Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year and early enrollee at UNC, calmly swished the clinchers after a timeout to ice her.

The fifth-seeded Tar Heels play the winner of No. 7 N.C. State and Georgia Tech in Saturday’s semifinals.

Lexi Donarski also scored 12 points for the Tar Heels (27-6) and Indya Nivar added 10. With Maria Gakdeng grabbing 16 rebounds, the Tar Heels had a 53-40 rebounding advantage, 17-9 on the offensive end for a 21-2 difference on second-chance points.

Makayla Timpson had 15 points, eight rebounds and she tied a tournament record with eight blocks for the fourth-seeded Seminoles (23-8). Latson added 13 points and O’Mariah Gordon had 12.

Florida State won the regular-season matchup 86-84 when Latson made a layup as time ran out. This time the nation’s leading scorer was held to half her scoring average on 3-of-14 shooting as the Seminoles had their lowest scoring game of the season.

The largest lead in the second half was five points.

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The Associated Press

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