Clemson women's shining March moment wiped out because clock started late ahead of buzzer-beater

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — It was a wild celebration and a moment of March bliss for Clemson, which had not enjoyed many of those the past two decades.

Mia Moore's running 3-pointer seemingly went through in time to lift the Tigers to a buzzer-beating win over Southern California in the first round of the women's NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

Until officials cleared the floor to look at replays and determined that the clock hadn't started when it should have when Moore took an inbound pass and dashed up the court. The referees took away the basket and the score remained 61-all. Clemson would have to play five more minutes if it hoped to advance, and the Tigers fell 71-67 in overtime to USC.

“Initially, I thought it was good, but I guess I came up short,” Moore said.

During their review, officials took a stopwatch to the video and found that Moore's shot and a potential foul that could have sent her to the free-throw line came after the 4.4 seconds that Clemson had to work with when it inbounded the ball.

Clemson coach Shawn Poppie thought his team had a signature March Madness win. At worst, he thought Moore would head to the foul line with almost no time left on the clock.

Instead, the ruling gave new life to USC, and Clemson, which had reached the NCAA Tournament just once since 2002 before this year, had to reset.

“Everything in their mind is, ‘We have just won the first-round game,’” said Poppie, in his second year leading the Tigers. “So for them to have an emotional, again, you just have a quick timeout to motivate them and for whatever reason, we have to go back out there.”

Clemson took a 64-61 lead halfway through the extra period on Moore's foul shot and a basket by Rachael Rose. From there, USC star freshman Jazzy Davidson took over and lifted the Trojans into the second round.

Davidson hit two of her four 3-pointers in overtime, the first to tie the game and the second to put the Trojans ahead to stay at 67-64 with 1:03 left.

“I told her you don't ever have to get me a gift because those shots in overtime were enough,” Davidson's teammate Kara Dunn said with a smile.

Davidson finished with 31 points and Dunn had 22, the pair combining for more than 70% of USC's scoring.

USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said her video manager thought Moore's shot came too late. Still, she was trying to plan for free throws by Clemson and how to respond to a potential deficit.

“Obviously, from my end, the officials did a great job going to monitor and they counted down the time from 4.4 seconds. She didn't get it off in time,” Gottlieb said. “If that's accurate, then that's what it is.”

For Poppie, it will be some time before he can stop thinking about his team's short taste of triumph.

“It was a tough, tough day for (the) Tigers,” Poppie said. “Sad locker room in there, but nothing to hang your head on.”

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness