Boston College Women’s Basketball Fights to Victory Over Clemson, Moves Forward in ACC Tournament

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.