Clemson, S.C. – Pitt opened the extra frame with back-to-back threes and the Tigers couldn’t recover, falling 78-73 to the Panthers in overtime on Thursday night in Littlejohn. The win moves Pitt to 11-9 (2-7 ACC) on the year, while the loss drops the Tigers to 7-13 (1-8 ACC).
Delicia Washington continued her hot shooting, finishing with a game-high 26 points, including two threes and a team-high nine rebounds. Daisha Bradford was the only other Tiger in double figures with 14 and added six rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Eno Inyang finished with nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
The teams started off slow, but the Tigers used 11 points from Washington to take a 20-18 lead after the first quarter. Clemson held Pitt to just two made baskets in the second quarter and took a 32-25 lead into halftime.
The Tigers pushed out to a 10-point lead to open the third, but Pitt responded with an 11-0 run to take a one-point advantage at the 5:04 mark. Inyang made five free throws in the back half of the quarter to keep the Tigers in it, as Pitt took a three-point lead into the fourth.
Pitt led by as many as five in the fourth quarter, but a three from Bradford with just over a minute to go put the Tigers up two. Pitt’s Amber Brown made a layup with 46 seconds to go to tie the game at 65 and send it to overtime.
Emy Hayford and Jayla Everett made back-to-back threes to open the extra frame, stealing the momentum from the Tigers. Bradford cut the lead to two with 1:06 remaining, but the Panthers made five of their next six free throws to put the game out of reach.
Clemson is back in action on Sunday, hosting Georgia Tech inside Littlejohn Coliseum for a 6:00 p.m. tipoff. The Tigers will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day with a pregame clinic featuring other female student athletes from Clemson’s other women’s sports.
