Louisville, Ky. – Clemson outscored Louisville 47-30 in the second half, but could not overcome a first-half hole, falling to the Cardinals 81-69 inside the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday afternoon. The win moves Louisville to 19-8 (10-4 ACC) on the year, while the loss drops the Tigers to 14-13 (5-10 ACC).
Amari Robinson paced the Tigers with 16 points, while adding six rebounds and two assists. Ruby Whitehorn finished with 14 points on the day, including 10 in the second half, and Ale’Jah Douglas was the only other Tiger in double figures with 11 points, all coming in the second half. Douglas was perfect on the afternoon, finishing 4-for-4 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the free throw line. Daisha Bradford pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and MaKayla Elmore tallied a career-high nine points, including the Tigers’ only three.
The Tigers came out with some fire in the third quarter, out-scoring the Cardinals 21-15, including a career-high nine points from Elmore. Clemson continued to cut into the lead in the fourth quarter, using a 12-2 run to cut the lead to nine with 2:00 to go. Louisville used free throws down the stretch, however, to hold off the furious Tiger comeback.
Louisville hit 10 threes in the first half, including seven from Hailey Van Lith and Norika Konno, and shot over 50% from the floor to take a 51-22 lead into halftime.
Clemson is back in action on Thursday, traveling to Miami, Fla., for a 6:00 p.m. matchup with the Hurricanes.
