Associated Press

Virginia's Ariana Moorer and North Carolina State's Brittany Strachan (21) battle for a rebound in the first half of an ACC quarterfinal game at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Virginia could not do without Monica Wright, and as good as she is, Wright couldn't do it alone.

Wright scored 32 points, including 22 of Virginia's final 25, but the No. 24 Cavaliers lost 66-59 to North Carolina State on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the ACC women's tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The Cavaliers' early lead evaporated when Wright had to sit out in rare foul trouble. Virginia was down by 13 when Wright went on what turned out to be a solo mission to resurrect her team's ACC tournament hopes.

Wright outscored the Wolfpack 17-7 during a seven-minute stretch to cut the deficit to three points. But no other Cavalier stepped up to help and Virginia never got closer.

"When the rest of our team was really not up to par, she tried to will this team to win," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said of Wright. "Usually one or two come with her, but I didn't feel like that happened tonight."

The third-seeded Cavaliers (21-9) await the pairings of the NCAA tournament to find out the next step in their season. Though Virginia has won three ACC titles, the Cavaliers have not made it to the championship game since 1994.

The sixth-seeded Wolfpack (19-12) advanced to the semifinals where they will play Boston College today at 3:30 p.m. Duke will play Florida State in the other semifinal game at 1 p.m. The championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m.

Four different players scored in double figures for N.C. State, including ACC freshman of the year Marissa Kastanek, who led the Wolfpack with 15 points.

Wright, the ACC player of the year, scored eight points in the first five minutes but Virginia's fortunes fouled when she started to get into foul trouble.

Also the league's defensive player of the year, foul trouble is not ordinarily a problem for Wright.

But on this night, she picked up two early and had to sit. Then another starter, freshman Lexie Gerson, was scraped in the right eye in a scrum for a rebound under the Wolfpack basket. Gerson returned for the second half and had seven rebounds. Ariana Moorer had nine points.

Wright came back in after N.C. State took the lead for the first time at 6:11 of the first half. But she picked up her third foul two minutes later on a reach in after the 'Hoos lost the battle for an offensive board.

Virginia stayed close, but Kastanek sank a 3-pointer with less than a second left in the first half to give the Wolfpack a 27-24 lead at halftime.

N.C. STATE (19-12)

Holston 4-8 2-6 10, Ellison 0-1 0-0 0, White 3-10 1-1 8, Gartrell 4-11 3-6 12, Kastanek 4-12 4-4 15, Tasler 1-4 1-2 4, Strachan 3-9 2-2 11, Beal 2-5 2-2 6. Totals 21-60 15-23 66.

VIRGINIA (21-9)

Shine 1-2 0-0 2, Egwu 1-2 1-2 3, Gerson 1-9 0-0 3, Moorer 3-12 2-4 9, Wright 12-26 7-8 32, W.Edwards 0-2 0-0 0, Kellum 1-5 2-6 4, McCall 1-2 2-2 4, Hartig 1-1 0-0 2, B.Edwards 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-62 14-22 59.

Halftime--N.C. State 27-24. 3-Point Goals--N.C. State 9-20 (Strachan 3-5, Kastanek 3-6, Tasler 1-2, Gartrell 1-3, White 1-4), Virginia 3-14 (Moorer 1-2, Wright 1-3, Gerson 1-5, Kellum 0-2, W.Edwards 0-2). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--N.C. State 47 (Ellison 9), Virginia 37 (Gerson, Wright 7). Assists--N.C. State 9 (Beal, Gartrell 3), Virginia 5 (Shine 3). Total Fouls--N.C. State 16, Virginia 18. A--8,061.