Virginia snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on Sunday, surrendering a 12-point second-half lead while going 9-of-26 from the free throw line in a 59-55 loss to Clemson.
Virginia (3-17, 0-10 ACC) went on a 13-0 run in the first quarter to overcome a slow start and then built up a 33-24 halftime lead. The Cavaliers led by 12 points in the third quarter before the Tigers chipped away at the deficit, tying the game with 2:32 remaining and pulling ahead by five points with 1:07 left in the game. The Cavaliers pulled to within two with 3.6 seconds remaining, but Clemson held on for the win.
Virginia had two players finish in double figures in sophomore forward Mir McLean and grad student guard Amandine Toi who both scored 11 points. Grad student center Eleah Parker led the defensive efforts with 12 rebounds. She also scored seven points.
Delicia Washington fueled the Clemson comeback, scoring 21 of her 23 points in the second half. She was the lone Tiger in double figures.
Clemson 8-15, 2-10 ACC) took an early 8-2 lead, but the Cavaliers went on a 13-0 run, building up a 15-8 lead. Clemson snapped a 7:36 scoreless streak with a pair of free throws in the final minute of the quarter and snapped an 0-of-14 shooting spell with a buzzer-beater to end the first trailing 15-12.
After Clemson cut it to a two-point deficit, Toi hit her second three of the game, expanding the lead to 18-13. A three-pointer from grad student guard McKenna Dale made it 23-16 with 6:00 left in the half. Junior guard Taylor Valladay added a three, followed by a layup from Toi that gave UVA its first double-digit lead, 28-18 with 3:57 remaining in the quarter. Virginia went into the break with a 33-24 lead.
After each team made just one field goal apiece in the first four minutes of the second half, a jumper from McLean reignited the UVA offense and pushed them out to a 38-26 advantage. The Cavaliers went cold from the floor again, not making a field goal for the final 4:27 of the period as Clemson crept closer, making it 43-39 on a three-pointer with 20.2 seconds left in the quarter.
Five straight points from Washington tied the game 47-47 with 5:11 remaining. A putback from McLean put the Cavaliers back up 49-47 with 4:19 remaining. Clemson took its first lead since the first quarter on a free throw with 2:54 remaining, but the Cavaliers tied it back up at the opposite end. Washington drained a three-pointer with 1:28 remaining. The Tigers added a layup 20 seconds later to make take a 55-50 lead into the final minute.
McLean hit her first of two free throw attempts with 27.4 seconds remaining. She missed the second, but junior forward London Clarkson came up with the offensive board, feeding McLean in the lane who made a jumper to cut the deficit the 55-53 with 20.9 seconds remaining. Clemson cleared the ball from the backcourt and Virginia fouled with 9.7 seconds remaining. Madi Ott made both free throws to put the Tigers up 57-53. Clarkson picked up another offensive rebound off a UVA miss and got a putback to make it a two-point game, 57-55, with 3.6 seconds remaining.
Clemson made their free throws on the opposite end to seal the game.
Postgame: Tina Thompson
“You guys might not know this, but I’m not a really good sleeper. So tonight I’m predicting that I’m going to sleep a lot less. Seventeen free throws [missed], this game was very much in our control, and we did not make free throws when it counted. We can go through different moments in the game or even execution in the fourth quarter. The lack of making free throws lost this game for us. There is no excuse for missing 17 free throws.”
On the team’s free throw woes: “Absolutely. I mean, it’s something that we talked about and we work on every day, our execution. At the end of practice, especially when we’re tired, we shoot free throws throughout practice to make sure that we’re shooting them when we’re tired and we do offense towards the end of practice for that same reason because going into the fourth quarter it’s important to to execute and we just haven’t we haven’t done that.”
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