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The Boston College women’s basketball team in moving on in the ACC Tournament after defeating Clemson by a score of 85-73 today. Clemson, who beat Miami yesterday in order to reach BC, did not make things easy for BC. The Eagles led by just a few points for much of the game, but really pulled things together and shut the Tigers down to end the game.
BC opened the game with a big play, taking a 3-0 lead thanks to Taylor Ortlepp. The teams traded points for much of the first quarter, but BC started to dominate in the second and was able to take a 10 point lead into halftime. Clemson came out fighting to start the second half, helped by BC’s 9 turnovers in the third quarter. The Tigers even managed to take a 2 point lead late in the third, but BC ended up taking a 61-57 lead into the final 10 minutes of play. The Eagles locked it down in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Tigers 24-16 and securing their ticket to the next round of the tournament.
The Eagles were led by Marnelle Garraud, who scored 21 points, recorded 6 rebounds, made 3 steals, and picked up 6 assists. Taylor Soule added 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists for the Eagles and went 12-for-14 from behind the free throw line. Cameron Swartz (11) and Georgia Pineau (14) also scored in the double digits for BC, and Swartz picked up 5 rebounds as well.
The Eagles were particularly strong on free throws tonight (which is not always their forte), making 86% of their foul shots. BC shot 47% overall, fairly even with the Tigers who made 46% of their field goals. BC out-rebounded the Tigers 32-26, and scored 16 second chance points to Clemson’s 6.
Next up, BC will face Duke. The Eagles played the Blue Devils in early December and lost 85-73. However, this was before BC had really settled into the strong play that we’ve seen in the back half of the season.