Wake Forest women close on 27-9 run to beat Virginia in ACC Tournament opener

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- — Elise Williams had 25 points and nine rebounds, Alexandria Scruggs added 12 points and No. 14 seed Wake Forest rallied to beat No. 11 seed Virginia 58-55 on Wednesday night in an ACC Tournament opener.

Wake Forest (7-24), which went 2 for 16 in conference play this season, advances to play No. 6 seed Florida State on Thursday in the second round. Virginia (15-15) was knocked out of the tournament by Wake Forest for the third straight season.

Wake Forest trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half before scoring 27 of the final 36 points to win at least one ACC Tournament game for the fifth straight season.

Alyssa Andrews completed a three-point play with 1:29 remaining in the fourth quarter to give Wake Forest its first lead since it was 25-23 in the opening seconds of the third. Virginia missed 11 straight shots before Camryn Taylor made a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining, and Kymora Johnson banked in a half-court shot just before the final buzzer to make it a three-point loss.

Williams made five free throws in the final minute to put Wake Forest ahead 57-49.

Taylor finished with 18 points for Virginia and Johnson had 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

The teams combined to only score 48 points in the first half with 18 turnovers. Wake Forest did not score in the final three minutes of the first half but still led at the break behind eight points apiece from Williams and Scruggs.

Virginia took the first double-digit lead of the game with 5:15 left in the third after six straight points from Taylor. The Cavaliers scored 23 points in the third, matching their first-half total.

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