Clemson and BC Face Off For Cinderella's Slipper

The final game of the first day of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament featured two teams with very different resumes. Seven-win Clemson played Miami in a game heavily favored for the Hurricanes. Miami, once a struggling team with six consecutive losses, rattled off two in a row to finish 10th, while Clemson lost more than 10 straight to back into the conference tournament as the No. 14 team. The matchup appeared lopsided, largely because Beatrice Mompremier started to hit her stride in the season finale against Pittsburgh after missing more than a month with an injury.

Only one thing stood between Miami and a rematch with Boston College in the second round on Thursday: March.

It didn't take long for the postseason gods to rear their fickle heads, and in the last game of the first day at the Greensboro Coliseum, an emotional upset sent the Clemson Tigers to the second round to take on the sixth-seeded Eagles.

"This is what you live for in basketball," BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "There's so much adrenaline that it keeps the body in pace with the mind. Nobody feels 100 percent at this point, and everyone has some nagging, lingering issue because basketball is a grueling sport. But adrenaline makes it fade away. It's March Madness. We just can't wait to hit the floor."

Playing Clemson matches an opponent from an instant classic road game in early February, won by the Eagles, 70-68. BC built a 15-point lead in that game in the first half by limiting shot attempts, holding the Tigers to under 25 percent shooting in the second quarter while bombing 19 field goals with a 66 percent percentage. The offense only missed 10 shots in the entire half and went on a 9-0 run before halftime to build a lead by as many 20 points.

The entire complexion changed in the second half, though, as the Tigers staged a frenetic comeback in the third quarter. BC went cold, hitting just 5-of-16 shots, while Clemson buried 11 field goals. It countered the late second quarter run with a 7-0 run near the end of the third, outscoring the Eagles to pull within five before the fourth quarter started.

That momentum carried over into the final period, and the Eagle offense, playing substantially tighter, continued missing. It watched Clemson close the gap to within two, but there was just enough of a cushion to hold off the star-powered Tigers. The Eagles won, but the Tigers earned a measure of respect by crashing the boards for 19 offensive rebounds for 19 second chance points.

The game itself featured two of the league's most dynamic frontcourts, and it converted a one-on-one matchup into a pound-for-pound battle. Clemson's Kobi Thornton went 7-of-10 from the floor for 15 points, one of four Tigers in double figures. Her success opened opportunities for Amari Robinson and Hanna Hank, who dropped 13 and 10 points, respectively, while Robinson grabbed seven offensive rebounds en route to a nine-board game.

"Kobi is a beast," McNamee said. "If you give her space in the post, she can eat you up."

Eagles forward Emma Guy played over 35 minutes, going 12-for-14 from the floor for 24 points and eight rebounds. She scored a plus-9 rating on the floor, hammering down on defense with a block and a steal as Taylor Soule converted into a passer for that game with three assists and only seven points.

"Clemson plays primary zone," McNamee said. "There's a lot of 2-3 against a man-to-man (formation). They look to press against an opposing offense, which works out for us because Marnelle (Garraud) loves being pressed."

The way Clemson plays is unique, and it gave Miami fits from the start of Wednesday's game. Miami only hit six field goals in each of the first two quarters, a number nearly eclipsed by the Tigers' 10 field goals made in the first period. The pressure forced turnovers from the backcourt, with Miami's Destiny Harden and Kelsey Marshall committing two apiece in the first half.

It combined with Thornton's dominating presence in the interior against Beatrice Mompremier, the preseason ACC Player of the Year and one of the most heralded athletes in the conference. Mompremier finished with four turnovers, all in the second half, and only grabbed six rebounds, handily boxed out on the Hurricane glass by Thornton, who had seven rebounds with only one foul.

It translated to easy buckets for Thornton, who went 12-for-16 with an added three-pointer for good measure. Her 27-points easily coasted to the team's lead, and the Clemson backcourt didn't need to do much after Robinson added 16 points of her own.

"Beatrice is a professional-caliber athlete and an X-factor as a really good player," McNamee said of the Hurricanes. "Getting her back meant Miami could play physical and crash boards for second chances. It was a big help to the entire team because Miami likes to play full court pressure and get out in front to play fast."

The loss eliminated Miami, which now misses the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. It advanced the Tigers into a potential Cinderella run if they can upend the Eagles, who are vying for their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2006. BC is in the running for an at-large bid, while the conference champion receives an automatic bid to the national tournament regardless of record.

BC remains one of the "next four out" on Charlie Creme's ESPN Bracketology for the women's national tournament. The Eagles are clawing down a number of teams from outside the ACC but are primarily chasing conference foe Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets earned the No. 7 seed after finishing a game behind BC, Virginia Tech and Florida State. They will play No. 15 Pitt after the Panthers upset Notre Dame in the second game of the first round. That game directly precedes the BC-Clemson, with the winner advancing to play second-seeded NC State on Friday.

The winner of the BC-Clemson game draws third-seeded Duke on Friday in the 8 p.m. game. Those two teams are joined by Florida State, which has the double bye as the No. 4 seed after winning the tiebreaker over BC and VT, and top-seeded Louisville. FSU will play either Virginia Tech or Wake Forest, which beat North Carolina, while the Cardinals will play either Syracuse or Virginia, both of which received a bye to play one another as the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds.

It was the first time since the ACC expanded to 15 teams that all three lower seeds advanced out of the first round, and it was the first time since 2017 that at least one lower seed won its first round game. Two teams won their games that year.

BC and Clemson will tip off at 8 p.m. tonight from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. The game can be seen on the ACC's Regional Sports Network coverage, which can be seen locally via NESN Plus. In-market streaming is available via the Fox Sports Go app, while all other out-of-market streams are available on ESPN's online platform. A full list of "in-market" television affiliates can be found at TheACC.com.

All games in the ACC Tournament are on Sirius 137/XM 194 (also on SiriusXM app, channel 956). Most games will also air on SiriusXM ACC Radio (channel 371 on SiriusXM radios and on the SiriusXM app).

Clemson and BC Face Off For Cinderella's Slipper

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Players Mentioned

Emma Guy