Clemson advances on in WNIT in battle of Tigers

Clemson topped Auburn to move on to a date with another SEC foe in Florida at 7 p.m. in Clemson on Thursday (Clemson athletics photo).

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Mon Mar 20 21:15:09 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Clemson won a hard-fought 56-55 battle of the Tigers with Auburn in the second round of the WNIT at Littlejohn Coliseum Monday night.

It was a back-and-forth battle of defenses all night long as Clemson out-rebounded Auburn 42-28 and shot 43-percent from the field in the victory. Offensively, Clemson was led by freshman Ruby Whitehorn, who had 16 points, and Daisha Bradford with 12 points. Senior Hannah Hank had 11 rebounds, just one off her career high.

Auburn jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead before Whitehorn got Clemson’s offense going. The freshman from Detroit (MI) score Clemson’s first five points for an early 5-4 lead. Auburn answered with a 6-2 run over the next minute to grab a 10-7 lead with 4:50 to play in the first quarter.

Clemson pushed the ball up the court and took advantage of gaps in the middle of the Auburn defense as Whitehorn left a defender at the top of the key with a crossover move to the basket for an 11-10 Clemson advantage.

Auburn outscored Clemson 6-4 over the final two minutes of the quarter for a 16-15 lead.

Clemson’s defense set the tone for the offense in the second quarter as they forced two shot clock violations and took a charge. Layups from Whitehorn and Robinson started a 12-4 Clemson run over the first six minutes of the second quarter to open a 26-19 Clemson advantage with 4:06 to play before intermission.

Auburn scored the final six points of the half – including four from Bostic, who had eight of Auburn’s ten second quarter points – to cut Clemson’s lead to 26-25 at halftime.

The teams traded baskets over the first three minutes of the third quarter, but Auburn’s Kha Richards hit four consecutive free throws to tie the game at 33-33 and Aich Coulibaly hit a jumper to give Auburn its first lead since the end of the first quarter at 35-33 with 5:16 to play in the third quarter.

Clemson’s Eno Inyang answered with back-to-back layups to start a 6-0 Clemson run to regain the lead at 39-35 with 1:53 remaining in the third quarter.

Sydney Shaw hit her first basket of the game – a three from the left wing – to stop Clemson’s run at cut the lead to 39-38 at the 1:35 mark. Bradford answered by draining a trey in front of the Clemson bench to extend the lead to 42-38 and account for the final points of the third quarter.

Whitehorn hit a pair of free throws at the 9:31 in the fourth quarter to open a 44-38 Clemson lead, but Auburn answered with five straight points, including another three from Shaw to close the gap to just one at 44-43 with 8:30 to play.

Auburn scored the next six points, including a pair of free throws awarded due to an "excessive contact" flagrant foul by Amari Robinson, to cut Clemson’s lead to 50-49. Kaitlyn Duhon hit a jumper in the lane to give Auburn a 51-50 lead with just over four minutes to play.

Auburn opened a three-point lead at 53-50, but Inyang stopped the bleeding with a layup to cut it to a 53-52 advantage with 2:39 remaining.

Bostic again hit a layup for Auburn, and just like the previous possession, Inyang banked a shot in to cut the lead to one with just over a minute left. Clemson took a charge in the lane with 33 seconds left and Butler called timeout.

On the ensuing possession, Bradford drove to the block and kissed a shot of the glass for a 56-55 Clemson lead with just 21 seconds remaining.

Bostic drove the lane with three seconds left but ran into a wall of Clemson defenders who took a charge to give Clemson the ball with 2.6 seconds on the clock. The Tigers ran out the clock from there after a timeout.

Clemson will play Florida, who defeated Wake Forest 80-63 Monday evening, in the Super 16 round of the WNIT at 7 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum on Thursday.