GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team fought off a late Clemson rally in the ACC Tournament first round game to collect a 61-52 victory and advance to the second round. Three Yellow Jackets finished in double-figures led by Francesca Pan with 18 points.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game, but when you can find a way to win ugly, sometimes it’s the sign of a good team,” commented head coach MaChelle Joseph. “I thought Francesca Pan came out and did what she does – she looked for her shots, she carried us early offensively and came up with some big rebounds down the stretch. The key to this game though, winning this game, was we were able to shut down Kobi Thornton in the second half – she had 12 first half points and we only allowed her to get one point in the second half.”
How It Happened
It was a series of runs in the first quarter as the Jackets utilized a 9-0 spurt to take an 18-4 lead with 1:22 left in the frame. Clemson closed the stanza with a 6-0 run of its own to cut the score to 18-10 after the opening quarter. The Jackets pushed their lead out to 15 in the second quarter before the Tigers posted an 8-2 run to close the half and cut the score to 31-22 at halftime.
Francesca Pan opened the second half draining a triple to spark a 7-0 Tech run, forcing Clemson to burn another timeout early in the third quarter. Clemson used a pair of free throws from Alexis Carter to pull within single digits for the only time in the third frame with just over four minutes remaining. Tech held a 48-38 edge entering the final frame, but Clemson wouldn’t go lightly, battling back to a four-point ballgame, 51-47, opening with a 9-3 rally with 6:18 to play. Tech pushed back out to an eight-point edge using buckets from Elo Edeferioka and Kierra Fletcher, but the Tigers responded slicing the score back to five points, marking their closest tally before Tech held on for the 61-52 victory.
Tech Tidbits
* Pan led Tech’s offense with 18 points followed by Kierra Fletcher with 12 points and Edeferioka with 10
* Tech won the rebounding battle, 37-30, paced by six rebounds from Breanna Brown
* Clemson committed 13 turnovers as the Jackets utilized the miscues for 15 points
* For the game, Tech shot 46.2 percent (24-52) to Clemson’s 28.6 percent effort
* The Jackets finished 10-of-19 from the charity stripe, while Clemson was 20-for-25
Next Up
The 10th-seeded Jackets advanced to the second round where they will face 7th-seeded Virginia on Thursday. Opening tip is slated for 6 p.m. on RSN.
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