The Clemson women’s brilliant March moment was swept away as the clock started late before the buzzer

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — It was a wild celebration and a moment of March happiness for Clemson, which hadn’t enjoyed many in the past two decades.

Mia Moore’s 3-pointer appears to have landed in time to lift the Tigers to a blowout win over Southern California in the first round of the women’s NCAA tournament on Saturday.

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Until officials cleared the floor to watch replays and determined that the clock hadn’t started when it should have when Moore took an inbounds pass and ran down the field. The referees remove the basket and the score remains 61-all. Clemson would have to play five more minutes if it hoped to advance, and the Tigers lost 71-67 in overtime to USC.

“Initially, I thought it was good, but I think I fell short,” Moore said.

During their review, the officials looked at the video with a stopwatch 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 rebounded the ball.

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

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

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

Clemson took a 64-61 lead midway through the extra period on a foul shot by Moore and a basket by Rachael Rose. From there, USC freshman Jazzy Davidson took over and led the Trojans to the second round.

Davidson hit two of his four 3-pointers in overtime, the first to tie the game and the second to give the Trojans the lead to stay within 67-64 with 1:03 left.

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“I told her you never had to give 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 22, the pair combined for more than 70 percent of USC’s scoring.

USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said her video director thought Moore’s shot came too late. However, he was trying to plan for Clemson’s free throws and how to respond to a potential deficit.

“Obviously, on my part, the referees did a great job monitoring and counting the time from 4.4 seconds. She couldn’t make it in time,” Gottlieb said. “If that’s true, then that’s it.”

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For Poppie, it will be a while before she can stop thinking about her team’s brief taste of triumph.

“It was a tough, tough day for (the) Tigers,” Poppie said. “The locker room is sad in there, but nothing to lay 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