Georgia Tech earned the No. 6 seed in the ACC Tournament and will begin play with a second-round game Thursday in Greensboro, N.C. The Yellow Jackets finished regular-season play in sixth place with their 64-56 win Sunday at Wake Forest, stopping a three-game losing streak that included two overtime defeats.
Tech goes into the postseason 20-9 overall and 11-7 in the conference. The Jackets will play the winner of the Wake Forest-Virginia game, which will be played Wednesday. Tech swept the No. 11 seed Demon Deacons and won its only game against the No. 14 seed Cavaliers.
Should the Jackets win on Thursday, they would play third-seeded Notre Dame on Friday. Tech fell at home to Notre Dame in overtime in the teams’ only meeting of the season. Tech’s game Thursday will be played at 8 p.m. and televised on regional sports networks.
Tech can use the tournament to regain momentum going into the NCAA Tournament following a 2-5 finish in the regular season. The Jackets nevertheless achieved their 14th 20-win season in team history and the second with coach Nell Fortner and will make back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time since making six consecutive tournaments 2007-12.
Tech forward Lorela Cubaj finished the regular season as the league’s leading rebounder for the second year in a row, with 11.5 rebounds per game. She is also second in assists (4.41 per game), seventh in blocked shots (1.31 per game), first in assist-turnover ratio (2.1) and first in defensive rebounds (9.4 per game). She figures to be a strong candidate to be named ACC Defensive Player of the Year (she was co-defensive player of the year last year) and repeat as an All-ACC first-team selection.
Against Wake Forest, she racked up 18 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists, becoming the first ACC player to have at least 15 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a game since 2015.
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