After 33 seasons of coaching the N.C. State women's basketball team, she knew the Wolfpack's blowout victory over the Tigers on Feb. 28 would result in a different affair Thursday when the teams met again in the first round of the ACC Tournament. She told her team so.

Yow was wise to be scared; her team was not in ignoring her warning.

The ninth-seeded Tigers upset the eighth-seeded Wolfpack at the Greensboro Coliseum, applying a suffocating 2-3 zone and finding the shooting touch from the free-throw line down the stretch to escape with a 65-60 overtime victory.

"We came out looking at playing Carolina again," State junior Shayla Fields said of their would-be next opponent. "I think it affected us in the worse way, and we lost the game to it."

Clemson was different, inspired by the new life teams feel with a clean tournament slate. This time around the Tigers brought a rough-and-tumble style of defense that forced a weary State team on its heels.

Before the crowd of 4,890 settled in, the Pack was down 10-2.

By the overtime period, with the score tied at 53-53 at the end of regulation, the Pack could not muster consistent offense and watched the Tigers go 8-of-8 on free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.

Clemson sophomore guard Morganne Campbell made six of those free throws during the game's remaining 1:15.

"I kept telling myself, 'I'm a shooter,' " Campbell said.

She and her teammates, of course, celebrated on the court after producing five players in double figures and stunning the Pack with a 70 percent performance from the free-throw line.

The Tigers had every reason to howl considering they had not won a first-round game since 2003.

The outcome left the Pack dejected and searching for answers for why it couldn't find consistency, despite rallying from deficits of 11 points in the first half and seven points in the second half.

Two free throws by sophomore Amber White gave the Pack its first lead of the night, 49-48, with eight minutes remaining. The Pack tied the score at 53 on Fields' jump shot with two minutes left.

Yet points were hard to come by as the Pack went 25-for-78 from the field for 32.1 percent for the game, including a 27 percent effort in the second half.

State had a stretch of four consecutive misses to close regulation.

"It was like that the whole game," Fields said. "You couldn't really buy a basket. And then when you're not getting fouls, it's hard to score points."

Senior Khadijah Whittington led the Pack with 19 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks.

Double- and triple-teamed, with both of her hands taped and all of her braces intact, the 6-foot-1 forward gave her usual tireless effort, though she couldn't find her late-game shooting touch.

"I think they were just more aggressive; they came out with a lot of intensity," Whittington said. "I don't think we attacked like we should have."

It was Whittington's final ACC game, possibly the final game of her career if the Pack does not receive a bid to NCAA Tournament or the WNIT. She never missed a game as a four-year starter and leaves the program as the second all-time rebounder.

"I would be really upset if we didn't make [the postseason]," said Whittington, not ready to move on.

Yow was not optimistic about making the NCAA Tournament.

"I don't think our chances would be good or perhaps even exist for the NCAA after this game," said Yow, who announced she will return for a 34th season in the fall.

She added that the WNIT was a possibility, with the Pack having requested to be a host.