Greensboro, N.C. — The NC State women’s basketball team is heading to its first ACC championship game since 2010 with a chance to win its first conference tournament title in 29 years.

The Wolfpack (27-4) defeated Boston College 82-75 Saturday afternoon in the ACC semifinals at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Eagles (20-12) rallied late with a 16-4 run in the final four minutes of the game, but it was never able to overcome an 18-point halftime deficit.

It appeared the Wolfpack was going to have its hands full early on in the semifinal match with No. 6 seed Boston College.

The Wolfpack shot 42.1 percent from the field and was 4-for-8 on threes in the first quarter. But even that wasn’t enough to match Boston College’s red-hot shooting. The Eagles shot a blistering 78.6 percent from the field in the first 10 minutes of the game.

NC State, however, flipped the narrative of the half, and the game, beginning with a pair of back-to-back threes in the final seconds of the first quarter.

After Boston College’s Marnelle Garruad hit a three-pointer that gave the Eagles a 24-17 lead, its largest of the night, NC State junior forward Kayla Jones hit a triple in response with 12 seconds remaining.

When Boston College committed a turnover on the following inbound, the Wolfpack stole the last possession of the quarter. A three-pointer by junior guard Kai Crutchfield as time expired shrunk Boston College’s lead to one and gave the Pack momentum heading into the second.

“When anybody hits big shots like that it really excites the team and allows us to get more excited on the floor,” said NC State senior guard Aislinn “Ace” Konig. “We play a little harder, we are able to celebrate. So I think that was the big momentum changer and really got us into the flow."

The Pack never looked back.

NC State outscored Boston College 25-6 in the second quarter, holding the Eagles to its lowest scoring quarter of the season. Starting with Jones’ late first quarter three, the Pack went on a monster 31-6 run in the final 10:30 of the first half.

The Wolfpack went to the locker room with a 48-30 lead at halftime and retained a convincing double-digit lead until the final seconds of the game.

“In the second quarter we seemed to be able to get some stuff going in transition and get Elissa [Cunana] some touches inside, and Ace knocked down some threes,” said NC State head coach Wes Moore. “That gave us momentum going into the locker room at halftime.

"It was good. We were able to get some people some rest in the second half and not play them quite as many minutes.”

Konig followed up her strong performance in NC State’s 57-48 quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech with another solid offensive afternoon.

Like in the quarterfinals, Konig finished with 16 points to tie the team-high in scoring. Most of her points came from behind the three-point line where she went 4 of 10. Of her four threes, two came late in the third quarter and stretched the Wolfpack lead to 22 each time.

“Winning is a lot of fun so I guess it's trying to make sure the urgency doesn't turn into getting out of control and really staying patient and running the offense and finding good shots,” said Konig on what it’s like to balance the emotion of playing in her last ACC tournament.

Unlike in the quarterfinals, freshman forward and ACC All-Freshman selection Jada Boyd enjoyed a lot of playing time in the semifinals. Boyd only saw the floor for four minutes against Georgia Tech, but played 26 minutes Saturday.

“Elissa [Cunane] was having a hard time getting around [Emma] Guy, so we thought Jada Boyd with more athleticism and length could be effective,” said Moore.

Boyd tied Konig for a team-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting. She added eight rebounds and three steals as the most productive member of the Pack’s bench Saturday.

Meanwhile, NC State sophomore center and first-team All-ACC selection Elissa Cunane was allowed to rest a majority of the second half because of the big lead and Boyd’s strong play. Cunane still finished with 11 points, four rebounds and a plus-14 plus/minus total.

“Jada Boyd played extremely well when she went in,” said Moore. “That allowed us to get both of them [Cunane and Jones] some rest because we played Jada at both positions today. That's big.”

With Saturday afternoon’s win, the Wolfpack will play in its first ACC tournament championship game since 2010. NC State also has an opportunity to win its first ACC tournament since 1991. The Wolfpack beat Clemson 84-61 that year under legendary head coach Kay Yow.

“I told the team in the locker room afterwards, let's not spend a lot of time thinking about all the outside stuff," Moore said. "Let's focus on the scout, the film, the preparation, like we've done all year long and get ready to play one more game. That's the important thing right now: the preparation, focusing on that and not worrying about the implications of the game.

"There will be plenty of time to do that later.”

The Pack has appeared in three ACC tournament championship games since its last conference title 29 years ago. In 2001, NC State lost to Duke 57-45 in the second women’s ACC tournament to be hosted in Greensboro. In 2007, NC State lost to North Carolina 60-54 in Yow’s last appearance in the conference championship game.

In 2010, NC State’s most recent appearance in the ACC championship, the Wolfpack lost to Duke 70-60.

The Pack can leave its red jerseys in Raleigh. With No. 4 seed Florida State’s 62-60 upset over the ACC regular season champion and No. 1 seed Louisville in Saturday afternoon’s first semifinal game, the No. 2-seeded Pack will wear its home white jerseys in Sunday’s title contest as the higher seed.

In the only meeting of the regular season, NC State defeated Florida State 68-51 in Reynolds Coliseum on Jan. 16. Cunane had a double-double that night with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

“I would love nothing better than for these players and also our fans to be able to enjoy a championship,” said Moore. “Like I said, we got work to do and we've got to focus on the game itself but, yeah, we understand.”

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