North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Downs Clemson for Fifth Straight Victory
2/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Wolfpack improved to 14-1 at home after senior reserve Keisha Brown tied her season-high with 15 points, while junior Khadijah Whittington posted her eighth double-double of the year with 12 points and 18 rebounds, one shy of her career-best carom total, and came up with a career-high six steals. Senior Marquetta Dickens added 11 points for NC State (18-7, 7-3 ACC).
Tasha Taylor scored 14 points for Clemson (10-14, 2-7 ACC), while Lele Hardy had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Moreemi Davis also hauled in 10 boards for the Tigers.
Dickens single handedly brought NC State back from a five-point deficit at the half, scoring seven in a row to open the second half. The Tigers clawed back with consecutive buckets to take what wound up being their final lead of the night, because senior Ashley Key drilled a 3-pointer at the 15:00 mark to give the Pack a 37-36 advantage.
That trey started a 15-6 spurt that was capped by a layup by Gillian Goring at the 7:58 mark that gave NC State a 51-42 lead. Clemson closed the gap to three, 55-52, but a bucket by Brown ignited a 10-0 run to close out the Pack’s fifth straight victory.“They (Clemson) shot about 25-percent in the second half and that is the difference in our defense (compared to the first half),” said NC State head coach Kay Yow, who picked up win No. 701. “As the game went along I think we got better. The last eight minutes I thought we were playing really good.”
It took over five minutes for NC State to take the lead, but when it did, the Wolfpack put together a 13-2 run, scoring 11 points off Clemson turnovers, to take a 15-7 lead with 13:08 to go in the first half. Whittington was hot early with seven points in the run.The lead was short lived as a jumper by Clemson’s Adrianne Bradshaw tied it at 18-18 with just over nine minutes left. From that point, it was a seesaw affair that featured six lead changes and one tie.
The Pack still held a 25-24 lead after a jumper by Keisha Brown, but eight straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Carrie Whitehurst and Morganne Campbell put the Tigers up 32-25. A late layup by NC State’s Chanita Jordan cut the deficit to 32-27 at the break.Clemson shot 48.0 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, but turned the ball over 14 times, which allowed the Pack to offset its 29.4 percent shooting clip by converting 16 points off those miscues.
NC State hits the road for a crucial ACC contest with Georgia Tech on Sunday at 4 pm in Atlanta.Pack Points
Before the game NC State presented a commemorative ball to coach Yow representing her 700th victory she recorded on Monday…NC State also presented Clemson head coach and former Wolfpacker Cristy Earnhardt McKinney with flowers…The Pack trailed for the first time in over 126 minutes when the Tigers scored the first bucket of the game.
