No. 4 Irish beat No. 18 Orange 91-66 to reach ACC final

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Jackie Young had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 4 Notre Dame advanced to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game by routing No. 18 Syracuse 91-66 on Saturday in a semifinal.

Jessica Shepard added 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Marina Mabrey finished with 16 points to help the top-seeded Fighting Irish (29-3) reach their ninth straight conference final — a run that includes all six years of their membership in the ACC.

Tiana Mangakahia scored 14 points and Gabrielle Cooper added 12 to lead fifth-seeded Syracuse (24-8). A day after making an ACC Tournament-record 14 3-pointers in a quarterfinal upset of No. 15 Miami, the live-by-the-3 Orange were 8 of 23 from long range against the ACC’s best 3-point defense.

Mangakahia pulled Syracuse to 55-44 with a layup with 4½ minutes left in the third, but the Irish put the game away by scoring 13 straight points, with Young’s three-point play with 1:59 left in the period stretching the lead into the 20s for good.

Brianna Turner had 14 points for Notre Dame while Arike Ogunbowale, the ACC’s leading scorer, added 12 points on 5-of-18 shooting.

BIG PICTURE

Syracuse: No ACC team lets it fly from 3-point range quite like the Orange, who entered having attempted a league-most 867 3s — nearly 100 more than any other team. They started hot but needed more of them to fall to keep up with the Fighting Irish, whom they haven’t beaten since both teams joined the ACC earlier this decade. The Orange missed 13 of their final 16 3s.

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish find themselves playing for a conference championship again. The last time they didn’t reach a conference final was in 2010 when they were knocked out of the Big East Tournament in the quarterfinals. They improved to 16-1 all-time in the ACC Tournament and won their 21st in a row in the series.

UP NEXT

Syracuse: Awaits Selection Monday to learn its NCAA Tournament opponent.

Notre Dame: Returns to the ACC championship game Sunday.