The dance continues for Gators as Florida women's basketball tops Clemson in WNIT Super 16

Before Thursday night's matchup at Clemson University's Littlejohn Coliseum, it had been 10 years since the Florida Gators' women's basketball team had made an appearance in the Super 16 of the WNIT.

At the helm for Florida then? Amanda Butler, who watched from the Clemson sideline as her alma mater and former coaching stop picked apart her Tigers as the Gators topped Clemson 73-63 thanks to an incredible night of shooting and an intense defensive effort.

Florida next plays at Bowling Green on Monday with tipoff at 6 p.m.

Here's how it shook out for the Gators (19-14) in their win over the Tigers (19-15):

Gators are lights out from downtown

Florida's first two made shots of the night were a good indication of how the night was going to go for the Gators, who set a season-high for made three pointers with 13 from downtown.

Senior KK Deans opened the contest with a pair of three-pointers and a 6-0 lead. Deans went on to add two more treys, helping her tally four in the first quarter, which paced her to leading all scorers with 19 points.

While Clemson was forced to cheat out towards Deans, who seemingly couldn't miss from deep, the Gators dished the ball to other members of their shooting arsenal.

Six different Gators notched three pointers Thursday night, with three players tallying three or more makes from downtown. Alongside Deans, sophomore Alberte Rimdal and senior Leilani Correa each sank a trio of long balls en route to 11-point performances.

"To the three-point shooting, we've been working hard on hitting the open player on time, every time by making the extra pass, and then moving to that extra pass to get the uncontested shot," Florida head coach Kelly Rae Finley said. "That really paid off for us tonight."

In Florida's last two games, the Gators have combined for 25 three-pointers and are shooting at a clip of 45%.

Clemson's offense sputters in the second half

The Gators and Tigers were knotted up in a close contest that saw Florida hold a 36-35 advantage heading into halftime.

While Florida's brilliant shooting performance showed no signs of dimming in the third quarter as the Gators added three more three pointers, Clemson's offense started to fade.

The Tigers went 3-for-14 from the field and 0-for-2 from downtown in the third frame. Clemson graduate transfer Brie Perpignan did everything she could to keep the Tigers afloat, scoring six of her team-leading 17 points.

Coming into Thursday's matchup, the Tigers had been led by senior forward Amari Robinson, who averaged just more than 13 points per game. However, the Gators were able to smother Robinson, holding the Tigers' leading scorer to seven points through three quarters.

Robinson added six points to her night total of 13 in the fourth quarter as Clemson made its last run of the game, outscoring the Gators, 18-15.

The dance continues for Florida

For the first time since 2013, the Gators will march into the WNIT quarterfinal, where a date with Bowling Green (30-6) awaits.

The Gators' matchup with the Falcons, who are coming off a 73-60 win over Memphis, presents the opportunity for Florida to notch its 20th win. Should Florida get the job done in Bowling Green, Ohio, Finley and the Gators will have tallied back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.

"I think it's great, you know, our team is really coming together," Finley said. "They could make a lot of different choices at this point of the season and they're choosing to elevate our program. I think, as a coach, you can't ask for anything more than that. I'm very proud of them."