The Clemson women’s basketball team lost a heartbreaking game against No. 7 Notre Dame Thursday night, falling to the Irish by a score of 57-54.

After trailing by two points out of the gate, the Tigers took the lead and did not surrender it for the entire first half. 

While the teams went back and forth a great deal, the Tigers got their lead up to as many as nine points in the first half when they went up 19-10. Going into halftime, the Tigers still led, although the Irish had closed the gap and brought it within three points. 

Clemson lost control of the game a bit in the third quarter. Notre Dame came out with a sense of urgency, starting the quarter with an 8-0 run before Clemson finally scored. However, fouls and missed free throws continued to plague the Tigers. 

At the end of the third quarter, the Tigers had missed a total of four free throws. Senior forward Hannah Hank made Clemson’s first two free throws of the game right at the end of the third quarter to tie the game up at 44-44.

The game remained tied 49-49 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame took a 57-51 lead with 29.6 seconds left in the game, but Clemson point guard Brie Perpignan hit a clutch 3-pointer to cut the deficit to three with 9.3 seconds left in the game.

After a Notre Dame turnover, the Tigers got the ball back down three with 5.9 seconds left on the clock. However, Clemson could not tie the game, and Notre Dame held on to win a hard-fought match.  

Throughout the night, both teams struggled to score the ball. Midway through the second quarter, the Tigers were doing well, hitting 55% of their shots, while Notre Dame was only making 33% at this time. However, the gap narrowed near the end of the third quarter, with the Irish making 38% and Clemson dropping to 48%. Clemson finished the game shooting 42.3% from the floor compared to the Fighting Irish’s 31.7% field goal percentage.

Perpignan led the Tigers in points with 11, shooting 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, while the rest of the team was 5-for-14. Senior forward Amari Robinson also put up 10 points and played a total of 31 minutes.

The Tigers will be back in action on Sunday when they take on Boston College on the road.