ACC hoops roundup for men and women

Florida State men pull one out….
Seminoles Rally For 62-58 Win Over Georgia Tech

Toney Douglas shook off a poor shooting night and scored eight of his game-high 21 points in the final 5:09 as cold-shooting Florida State rallied for a 62-58 victory over Georgia Tech on Thursday night.

Douglas, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s leading scorer in league games, put the Seminoles ahead to stay at 48-46 with a floating jumper just inside the free-throw lane with 5:09 left.

Florida State (17-5, 4-3) hit seven of eight free throws, four by Uche Echefu, in the final 41.5 seconds to stave off the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech (10-11, 1-7) was led by Zachery Peacock’s 16 points, while Gani Lawal came up with his 14th double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.

Busy night for ACC women:

Thomas Leads No. 4 Duke To 81-67 Win Over No. 17 Virginia

Jasmine Thomas scored 22 points and No. 4 Duke used an 11-0 run to pull away in the second half Thursday for an 81-67 victory against No. 17 Virginia.

Karima Christmas added 18 points for Duke (19-2, 7-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which used a 27-9 run to end the first half to take the lead and never let the Cavaliers get any closer than three again. When Virginia pulled to 50-47, the Blue Devils scored 11 straight.

Virginia (18-5, 4-5) lost its 15th consecutive meeting with Duke. The Cavaliers came in on a three-game winning streak, including a victory against Maryland that ended a 17-game losing streak against the ACC’s top three programs — Maryland, North Carolina and the Blue Devils.

Lyndra Littles led Virginia with 29 points and Monica Wright added 21.

No. 8 Tar Heels Power Past Hokies, 93-77

Rashanda McCants scored 23 points to help eighth-ranked North Carolina beat Virginia Tech 93-77 on Thursday night.

Jessica Breland added 20 points for the Tar Heels (20-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have followed a three-game losing streak with three straight victories. North Carolina shot 57 percent, led by 16 points at halftime and never let the margin slip below double digits.

That’s not to say the Tar Heels were at their sharpest. They didn’t protect the basketball particularly well and had several defensive lapses to frustrate coach Sylvia Hatchell. Still, it was a good enough way to head into Monday’s rivalry game against fourth-ranked Duke.

Lindsay Biggs scored 21 points for the Hokies (11-12, 1-7), who never seriously threatened to pull the upset. North Carolina has won nine straight in the series and 12 of 14 meetings overall, with Virginia Tech’s last win coming 25 years ago.

Hot Shooting Terps Down Wolf Pack, 87-66

Maryland’s shooting was so uncannily accurate, it looked like a practice session.

A very good practice session, at that.

With Kristi Toliver leading the way, the 13th-ranked Terrapins shot 70 percent in the first half and cruised past North Carolina State 87-66 Thursday night.

Maryland (18-4, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) missed only seven of its first 25 shots from the floor, an astounding 72 percent success rate. Toliver went 4-for-5 in the first half, with all of her attempts coming from beyond the 3-point line.

The Terrapins led 48-24 at halftime. Their shooting was so good, the Wolfpack collected only six defensive rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.

Florida State Downs Boston College, 64-53

Mara Freshour scored 19 points, Tanae Davis-Cain had 14 rebounds and No. 15 Florida State rebounded from a last-second loss earlier this week by beating Boston College 64-53 Thursday night.

The Seminoles (19-5, 7-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), off to their best start ever in conference play, posted their 10th win in 11 games.

Stefanie Murphy led cold-shooting BC (17-6, 5-3) with 16 points. The Eagles shot just 31 percent, hitting only five of 20 3-pointer.

BC scoring leader Mickel Picco, who entered averaging 17.4 per game, was held to seven points on 3-for-15 shooting, including 1-for-10 on 3-pointers.

Wake Forest Downs NC Central 63-48
The Wake Forest women’s basketball team defeated NC Central 63-48 on Thursday evening at the Joel Coliseum. The Demon Deacons improved to 16-5 for the season and the Eagles are now 8-16.

NCCU’s Chasidy Williams was the game’s high scorer with 20 points, followed by WFU’s Brittany Waters who added 19 for Wake Forest. Waters led both teams in rebounding with 11 boards, marking her third double-double of the season.

Wake Forest point guard Tiffany Roulhac, who was sidelined 10 games into the season with an ACL injury, returned for the first time sine her December injury to play three minutes. She added one assist during her time on the court.

The Eagles took their only lead of the game just over three minutes into play. Chasidy Williams added two free throws to set the score at 5-4, but Wake Forest then added eight unanswered points to gain a lead it would hold for the remainder of the game.

*****from theacc.com*****