Mia Moore had the shot of her life, an off-balance, game-deciding, buzzer-beating prayer of a three. It would break a tie and put No. 8 Clemson over No. 9 USC. And for a moment, it did, until it was clear that it actually did not.
As the shot fell, Moore’s teammates emptied the bench in triumph, Clemson’s band and cheerleaders jubilant right alongside them. But the referees went to check the game tape: They were reviewing both whether Moore had gotten the shot off in time and whether she had been fouled before the clock expired. They ruled that she had not. Moore’s shot had been just a fraction of a second late, and so had any potential foul, meaning the game would remain tied and overtime would follow.
