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GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Star freshman Hannah Hildalgo had 22 points — including a pair of baskets for the lead down the stretch — as No. 14 Notre Dame held off No. 10 North Carolina State 55-51 in Sunday's championship game at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
It marked the Irish's first title in five years.
Hildalgo finished with six rebounds and six assists for the fourth-seeded Fighting Irish (26-6), while Maddy Westbeld added 16 points and seven boards.
Notre Dame won the ACC Tournament in its first four seasons in the league from 2014-17, lost in the final in 2018, then returned to claim a fifth title in 2019 under Muffet McGraw. But the Irish hadn't been back since amid the transition to Niele Ivey, a former Notre Dame player who led the program to the 2001 NCAA title and was a McGraw assistant.
Ivey, now 46, took over amid the COVID-19 pandemic as a first-time head coach. Now, she has her first title.
And this one came in front of a home-state crowd for N.C. State filled with plenty of red about 80 miles east of the second-seeded Wolfpack's campus home.
River Baldwin had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead N.C. State (27-6), while Aziaha James had 12 points on just 5-for-16 shooting.
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