Lady Tar Heels Pour It on in Second Half and Down Clemson 74-55

The Clemson Tigers’ brief Cinderella run came to an abrupt end Friday, as they fell to the North Carolina Tar Heels 74-55 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

In the opening round of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament on Thursday, the No. 12 Lady Tigers stunned the No. 5 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 81-69.

Considering North Carolina’s recently sluggish play and penchant for turnovers, it did not seem entirely unreasonable to think that the Tigers could upend the Tar Heels as well.

For the first half of Friday’s quarterfinal game, it looked as if that might happen.

North Carolina (26-5) turned the ball over 15 times in the first half, and Clemson made them pay, scoring 15 points off those turnovers.

To make matters worse for the Heels, their bench was outscored 19-8.

Carolina’s half was not all bad, as they outrebounded Clemson 28-17. They shot 7-for-12 from the charity stripe while Clemson had no opportunities from the free throw line. 

The teams went to the break with the Tar Heels clinging to a 31-29 lead.

Coach Sylvia Hatchell apparently said all the right things in the locker room, and Carolina came out for the second half looking like a different team.

Shooting 7-for-13 to open the second half, the Lady Heels went on a 16-2 run that resulted in a 49-34 lead, sealing Clemson’s fate. The Tigers would never get close again.

Carolina continued its dominance on the boards, outrebounding the Tigers 59-33 for the game. The Heels pulled down 23 offensive boards to Clemson’s 14.

North Carolina coughed up the ball only six times in the second half, a remarkable statistic for one of the most turnover-prone teams in the nation.

The Clemson Tigers came to play but found themselves overmatched in the end. They simply could not match the Tar Heels' inside presence, who outscored them 32-16 in the paint, largely on the strength of their offensive rebounding.

Bryelle Smith led the Tigers with 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting including 3-for-7 from behind the arc. She was perfect from the free throw line in two attempts.

Jasmine Tate led the team in rebounding with seven. Freshman Shaniqua Pauldo pulled down six.

Two Tar Heels recorded double-doubles: Italee Lucas had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Jessica Breland led all scorers with 22 to add to her 11 rebounds.

Rashanda McCants was good for 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

Carolina playmaker Cetera DeGraffenreid had only one turnover for the game, which is probably a more significant number than her seven points and three assists.

A crowd of 13,599 fans crowded Greensboro Coliseum, breaking last year’s tournament record of 12,969 fans. For at least a half, they got their money’s worth.

Today, North Carolina takes on the No. 1 seed Maryland Terrapins (26-4), who narrowly escaped their quarterfinal matchup with a surprisingly tough Wake Forest team, 72-70.

The Demon Deacons led that game by 12 points midway through the second half, but Maryland clamped down on defense and outscored Wake 11-0 in a little over two minutes to take the lead for good.

The winner of today’s game will move on to face the winner of the Florida State-Duke game that follows this one.

All four teams in these semifinal games are nationally ranked.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.