GREENSBORO-- Duke junior Haley Peters had a double-double and Tricia Liston scored 17 points to lead the Duke Blue Devils over the Florida State Seminoles in the semifinal round of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament Saturday. The Blue Devils (29-2, 17-1 ACC) advance to Sunday's championship round to play the winner of the second semifinal between North Carolina and Maryland.
Duke shot 46 percent from the floor and owned the glass, out-rebounding the Seminoles 43-32. The Seminoles (22-9, 11-7 ACC) were led by Chelsea Davis' 17 points, and 13 points apiece for Natasha Howard and Alexa Deluzio. Florida State only had 12 turnovers for the game, compared to Duke's 17 but only shot 37.9 percent from the floor.
The Blue Devils had a 6-point lead in the waning seconds of the first half before Yashira Delgado hit a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer from over 30 feet. Florida State then came out of the locker room with a renewed energy and trimmed the Duke lead to 38-37 on a Davis layup. Following a Florida State steal, Delgado and Howard both missed shots before Howard pulled down an offensive rebound. The whistle blew, and Howard was charged with a technical foul.
Liston drained both technical free throws, and on the ensuing possession hit a three-point basket which extended the Duke lead back to 6. The Devils were able to maintain that lead before the Seminoles staged one last rally that tied the game at 58 with 4:39 remaining. That was as close as Florida State would get, however, as Duke went 6-6 from the free throw line over the last minute to seal the victory.