Clemson Women’s Basketball: Tigers sharp from deep in first round win

For the fourth consecutive year, Clemson Women’s Basketball has won an ACC Tournament game, taking down Pittsburgh 71-53 Wednesday afternoon in Greensboro.

The teams were just about even in three of the four quarters, but after falling behind by two at the end of the first quarter, the Tigers dominated the Panthers, hold them to 4 points in the second quarter and never looking back for their 17th win on the season.

Coming off a 10-21 season in 2021-2022, 17 wins looks pretty good, but Clemson wants to take that next step in the ACC Tournament as they continue to build the program.

In the Tigers case, that next step is against the North Carolina Tar Heels Thursday at 6 P.M.

The Tigers and Tar Heels have already tangled once this season, January 29th in Clemson, with North Carolina coming out on top by 11.

However, if Wednesday’s game showed anything, it’s that Clemson can be a dangerous team if they’re hitting their threes, which they did to the tune of a tournament record 11 times against Pittsburgh on 25 attempts.

In fact, the Tigers shot better from three point range, than they did from inside the arc, finishing the game at 38.2% overall from the field.

Hannah Hank led Clemson with a career high 19 points, including 3 of 6 from deep, while Daisha Bradford contributed 15 points and was 4 of 6 from three point range.

Amari Robinson chipped in 10 and Eno Inyang 9 points for Clemson, which was led in rebounding by Robinson (8) and Hank (7).

Clemson took advantage of Pitt turnovers, too, outscoring the Panthers by a total of 18 to 8 on opponent turnovers.

Clemson Women’s Basketball can take the next step with a win on Thursday

The Tar Heel team that Amanda Butler’s team faces is the 7th seed in the ACC Tournament and comes in at 20-9 on the season and finished 11-7 in the ACC.

The winner of Clemson and North Carolina will advance to take on Duke Friday at 6 P.M.

Four straight opening round wins is nice, but the Tigers need to take the next step by defeating the Tar Heels on Thursday.