GREENSBORO, N.C. — Kelsey Marshall scored 18 points and Miami pulled off its second straight upset in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, defeating No. 20 Notre Dame 57-54 on Saturday to advance to the championship for the first time.
Miami, which was 0-3 in semifinals, faces third-ranked North Carolina State, the two-time defending champions, in the title game on Sunday. Miami coach Katie Meier will be going for her 400th win.
A day after Destiny Harden scored the last 15 points of the game to rally the seventh-seeded Hurricanes to a dramatic 61-59 win over second-seeded Louisville, Marshall was clutch against the third-seeded Fighting Irish.
Marshall had a 3-pointer and a free throw in a 6-0 that started with Karla Erjavec's driving layup that gave the Hurricanes a 52-51 lead with 2:35 to play.
After Marshall's 3-pointer with 1:55 to go, Notre Dame threw the ball away and Marshall turned that into one free throw. Dara Mabrey drained a 3-pointer from the left wing for the Irish with 35.9 seconds left. Then the Irish had to foul three times before sending Mykea Gray to the line at 24 seconds.
Gray made one and the Irish went for a 3-pointer from Mabrey with four seconds left. The ball bounced high off the rim and Harden grabbed the rebound as time ran out.
Erjavec scored 10 points for the Hurricanes (20-11), who have won eight of nine. Harden, who scored 27 points and the game-winner as time ran out against Louisville, was held to six points but she led Miami with seven rebounds.
Maddy Westbeld scored 14 points for the Irish (22-7) and Maya Dodson and Sonia Citron added 10 each.
Miami scored the first nine points of the game and led 12-4 after one quarter. Notre Dame had a 9-0 run in the second quarter and it was 26-26 at halftime.
Marshall had nine points in the third quarter when Miami went on top 46-40.
