Tigers take down Panthers in first round of WNIT |
CLEMSON – After a hot start in the first quarter, the Tigers never looked back in defeating High Point 66-46 in the first round of the WNIT in Littlejohn Coliseum Thursday night.
The Tigers improved to 18-15 on the season, while the Panthers fell to 17-15. High Point earned a WNIT bid after finishing second in Big South, falling to Gardner-Webb in the Big South Championship game. This is Clemson’s third appearance in the WNIT in school history. Most recently, the Tigers were selected for the tournament in 2021. It was altered by the COVID-19 Pandemic, forcing Clemson to play in a regionally hosted event in Charlotte, where they beat Ohio in the first round before falling to Delaware in the second. The Tigers also beat Charlotte in the WNIT in 2004. The Tigers shot 50 percent and out-rebounded the Panthers 36-20 Clemson had three players in double figures. Daisha Bradford led the Tigers in scoring with 17 points. Amare Robinson had 15 points. Eno Inyang added 12 points. The Tigers got off to a quick start scoring the game’s first eight points in a little over two minutes. High Point’s first points came off of a pair of Nakyah Terrell free throws at the 7:30 mark to make it an 8-2 Clemson advantage. Inyang scored six points over the next three minutes fueling an 8-0 Clemson run as the Tigers extended their lead to 16-4 with four minutes to play in the first quarter. The Panthers found a little bit of a rhythm scoring seven points in two-and-a-half minutes to cut Clemson’s lead to 19-11, but Brie Perpignan weaved her way through purple jerseys for a layup with 14 seconds remaining in the first quarter for a 21-11 lead at the end of the stanza. Head coach Amanda Butler said it was important for the Tigers to set the tone defensively "That's a team that obviously very offensively potent," Butler said. "And we wanted to do a really good job of establishing our defense. We still gave him some pretty good looks at threes, but, pretty much one and done when that happened. And I'm just really proud of the way we were able to scramble and cover and communicate." The second quarter began much like the first, with Clemson opening on a 9-0 run, including four by Amare Robinson for a 30-11 Clemson lead with 5:50 to play in the quarter. High Point didn’t score its first points until the 5:35 mark in the quarter, but a McNear layup started a 15-6 Panther run over the next five minutes to cut Clemson’s lead to 36-26 with just 14 seconds remaining before halftime. Perpignan hit a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining in the half to account for a 38-26 lead at intermission. The teams traded baskets in the third period, with neither team making much headway. Bradford had five points, and Inyang had four points as Clemson led High Point 53-39 at the end of three quarters. Clemson out-paced High Point 13-7 in the fourth quarter, including four points apiece from Bradford and Robinson. Clemson awaits the winner of Auburn and Tulane, who play Friday at 8:00 pm. Butler said continuing to play and practice is important for her program. "It's important to win, in the most pressure-filled part of the season," she said. "And it's important to do it in a way that we think is really reflective of who we are. As we continue to build and build momentum and all those things, you know, that involves playing longer and that involves deep runs into the postseason. So today enabled us to have another chance to go and get another win and I'm really grateful for that."
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