DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — Imari Berry scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead No. 12 Louisville past No. 16 North Carolina 65-57 in a semifinal of the ACC Tournament on Saturday.
The No. 2 seed Cardinals led by five points heading to the fourth quarter and quickly pushed their lead to 10. Third-seeded North Carolina cut it to 52-46 midway through the quarter before Berry scored Louisville’s next six points, leading to a 58-48 advantage with two minutes left.
North Carolina cut it to five points with 21 seconds remaining, but Louisville closed it out at the free-throw line.
Berry, a backup guard, made 9 of 14 shots, including 4 of 8 3-pointers. Laura Ziegler scored 13 points and Elif Istanbulluoglu added 11 for the Cardinals (27-6).
North Carolina (26-7), which had won 13 of 14 games coming in, got 17 points from Elina Aarnisalo, 13 from Nyla Brooks, 11 from Lanie Grant and 10 from Indya Nivar.
Berry buried three 3-pointers in the last four minutes of the first quarter, helping Louisville take a 16-10 lead. The Cardinals were up 23-15 in the second quarter before Brooks scored eight points in the final six minutes of the half to get North Carolina within 28-27 at the break.
The Tar Heels had their last lead at 38-37 with under four minutes left in the third before Berry and Ziegler drained 3-pointers to help Louisville take a 45-40 lead into the final period.
Up next
Louisville will play top-seeded and 13th-ranked Duke in the championship game on Sunday.
North Carolina will learn its NCAA Tournament seeding on Selection Sunday. ___
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