Associated Press
GREENSBORO -- Nikitta Gartrell doesn't want to leave her last ACC Tournament with any regrets. She won't have to if she keeps playing like this.
The senior scored a career-high 25 points to help N.C. State rally past Boston College 63-57 in Saturday's semifinals, sending the program back to the final for the first time since a surprise run three years ago.
Gartrell finished with nine rebounds and hit four 3-pointers for the sixth-seeded Wolfpack (20-12), who had to rally from 10 down in the final 9 minutes to extend first-year coach Kellie Harper's successful tournament debut.
First N.C. State overcame a bad shooting day to pull ahead late and beat Clemson in Thursday's quarterfinals. The next night, the Wolfpack built a 14-point second-half lead on No. 24 Virginia then had to hold on as ACC player of the year Monica Wright nearly single-handedly brought the Cavaliers back. On Saturday, her team had to deal with a slow start from league rookie of the year Marissa Kastanek and a significant size disadvantage before Gartrell helped rally the Wolfpack past the seventh-seeded Eagles (17-15).
" 'Hang on' needs to be the motto of our staff because [the players are] making big plays, timely plays," Harper said. "They're so coachable. They're saying the right things on the bench. It's an incredible ride."
Now comes a championship game rematch with ninth-ranked and top-seeded Duke, which beat the Pack by 31 points in Cameron Indoor Stadium earlier this month. N.C. State has won seven of eight since that night, a performance that was so bad that Harper didn't bother to even watch the game tape.
N.C. State hasn't won the ACC tourney since 1991.
"I think our mentality is already better than it was when we played them," Harper said. "These girls don't lack for confidence right now."
But after Gartrell helped the Pack rally from its big deficit, she hit the go-ahead free throws with 1:23 left then buried a jumper over Mickel Picco to beat the shot clock for a 60-56 lead with 37.4 seconds left.
It was her second strong late-game performance in as many nights; against Virginia, she hit a critical 3-pointer with 1:45 left.
"It's a wonderful feeling, just knowing that I scored those points for my teammates and that we actually get to play in the ACC championship once again for me -- but most of all for my teammates -- because most of them haven't been through anything like this," Gartrell said.
N.C. State 63, Boston College 57
BOSTON COLLEGE -- Swords 9-11 6-6 24; Thoman 6-10 0-0 16; Murphy 3-6 2-2 9; Picco 3-6 0-0 7; Johnson 0-4 1-2 1; Gill 0-4 0-0 0; Shields 0-3 0-0 0; Brown 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 9-10 57.
N.C. STATE -- Gartrell 9-19 3-3 25; Holston 5-10 5-5 15; Kastanek 2-8 4-4 9; Beal 1-2 4-4 6; Ellison 1-2 0-0 3; Strachan 1-6 1-2 3; Muciniece 1-1 0-0 2; Tasler 0-5 0-0 0; White 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 17-18 63.
Boston College 29 28--57
N.C. State 23 40--63
3-Point Goals--BC 6-16 (Thoman 4-4; Murphy 1-2; Picco 1-3; Gill 0-1; Shields 0-3; Brown 0-1; Johnson 0-2), NCSU 6-20 (Gartrell 4-5; Ellison 1-1; Kastanek 1-4; Strachan 0-5; Tasler 0-5). Rebounds--BC 32 (Swords 10), NCSU 26 (Gartrell 9). Assists--BC 16 (Gill 4; Thoman 4), NCSU 8 (White 4). Fouls--BC 17, NCSU 11. Technical Fouls--none. A-9,106.
