Duke women's basketball takes on North Carolina in ACC Tournament finals

Less than 24 hours after the Duke basketball men defeated North Carolina 69-53 in Chapel Hill, the Blue Devil women’s team will square off with the Tar Heels with an ACC tournament championship on the line.

Top-seeded Duke (29-2, 17-1 in the ACC) will tip off against the third-seeded Tar Heels (28-5, 14-4) at 2 p.m. Sunday in the final of the ACC tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum. With a victory, Duke would capture its third ACC tournament championship in the last four seasons and its eighth conference tournament crown in program history.

Sunday’s showdown in Greensboro will mark the third occasion that the Blue Devils have faced North Carolina this season. A hot first half shooting performance propelled Duke to an 84-63 victory in Chapel Hill Feb. 3. The Blue Devils needed a 22-2 second-half run to knock off the Tar Heels 65-58 March 3 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Although Duke has gotten the best of North Carolina in each of the teams’ first two meetings, head coach Joanne P. McCallie said she does not overlook the challenge her team faces in the ACC championship.

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“Obviously they have great strengths,” McCallie said. “It will be physical regardless, so that’s what I think it’s more about this time of year, especially in a new season.”

The road to the tournament’s final game has not been an easy one for the top-seeded Blue Devils, who struggled in their 79-65 quarterfinal victory against N.C. State and needed a late push to secure a 72-66 win against fourth-seeded Florida State in the semifinal.

Duke struggled with ball control against the Seminoles with 17 times in the contest. Despite holding a decisive edge on the boards, the Blue Devils struggled with interior defense, allowing Florida State’s Chelsea Davis to get easy looks at the bucket en route to a team-high 17 points.

The Tar Heels have not been afraid to pound the ball inside all season long. They will rely on the aggressive play of leading scorer Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, forward Xylina McDaniel and 6-foot-6 center Waltiea Rolle to challenge Duke in the paint.

North Carolina’s journey to the ACC championship game has been a difficult one as well. The third-seeded Tar Heels snuck by No. 11 Boston College 62-57 in the quarterfinal round before coming back from a 14-point halftime deficit to stun No. 2 Maryland 72-65 in the semifinal Saturday. Ruffin-Pratt led the way for North Carolina with 20 points, and Rolle added 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Although a rivalry matchup between Duke and North Carolina on the conference’s biggest stage holds added significance, it has become commonplace over the course of the past decade. Sunday will mark the eighth time in the last 13 years that the Tobacco Road rivals have decided the ACC tournament title. In the teams’ seven previous matchups, the Blue Devils have triumphed in five of them, including an 81-66 victory in the most recent showdown in 2011.

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