ClemsonWBB beats Miami 60-52

by CU Athletic Communications - Sun Jan 26 17:39:17 GMT-04:00 2014

Final Score: Clemson 60, Miami 52

Records: CU: 10-11, 2-5 ACC; UM: 11-9, 3-4 ACC

Clemson Leading Scorer: Nikki Dixon: 19 points

Updated Series Record (trend): 6-7 [W1]

Next Game: Clemson at Georgia Tech; Jan. 30; Atlanta, GA

CLEMSON, SC - The Clemson Lady Tigers held Miami to a 1-for-28 mark from the floor during a 17-minute span to grab control of the game in a 60-52 victory over the Hurricanes on Sunday at Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson (10-11, 2-5 ACC) held the Hurricanes (11-9, 3-4 ACC) to just 25.8 percent shooting from the field overall, including a 3-for-23 (13.0%) mark from three.

Nikki Dixon recorded 19 points to lead the Tigers in scoring, coming up just four points shy of her 1,000th. The junior wing has scored 19 or more points in eight of the last nine games, and is averaging 20.0 ppg over her first seven ACC games. Quinyotta Pettaway recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds, and also added the 100th blocked shot of her career.

Clemson held a 22-19 lead with a minute to play in the first half before going on a 13-5 run spanning halftime in taking a 12-point advantage. The Canes cut the lead to eight with 6:29 to play on a three-pointer by Adrienne Motley, who finished with 14 points. However, Nixon buried her only three-point attempt of the game in immediate response to again give Clemson a cushion.

Defensively, the Tigers held Miami to its lowest field goal percentage of the season. It was also the lowest field percentage against the Tigers by an ACC team this season.

Overall, Clemson snapped a four-game skid against the Hurricanes, as Clemson’s last win came on Feb. 18, 2010. Clemson is now 6-7 all-time against Miami, and 2-4 in Littlejohn Coliseum.

In the first half, Miami hit just 6-of-28 field goals for a mark of 21.4 percent. That is tied for the 10th lowest field goal percentage by an opponent in a single half.

Clemson will return to action on Thursday at Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. in McCamish Pavilion, and will play at Virginia on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Player of the Game: Quinyotta Pettaway - The senior post player recorded her second double-double of the season, and added her 100th career block in the contest

Stat of the Game: 1-28: During a 17 minute span from 7:10 left in the first half to 10:28 in the second half, Clemson held Miami to .036 shooting

Individual Notes:

Chancie Dunn took a charge at the 16:15 mark of the 1st half, her third of the season

Nikki Dixon’s first field goal came with 2:06 left in the first half. After a slow first half, she finished the game with 19 points, 16 of them coming in the second half. She now has 996 in her Clemson career.

Kelly Gramlich hit 2-2 from behind the arc, snapping her out of a 1-23 skid over the last three games.

Chelsea Lindsay had four assists in the first half, higher than her 3.9 apg mark for the season. She finished the game with 5. Entering the day, Lindsay is third in the ACC in league play at 5.0 per game

Quinyotta Pettaway recorded her 100th career block with 12:10 remaining in the second half, and finished with 101, moving her into 9th place all-time in career blocked shots

Pettaway recorded her second double-double on the season,the 14th of her career. She finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Team:

Clemson had seven assists on 10 made field goals in the first half. They finished with 13 on 22 field goals.

Clemson forced 15 Miami turnovers and scored 13 points off those turnovers.

Clemson is 9-1 this season when leading at the half and 10-1 when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent

Miami received just two points from their starting five, including zero from their leading scorer Caprice Dennis at the half. Dennis did not score the entire game and the entire starting lineup contributed just 19 points.

At the 11:30 mark of the second half, the Clemson defense had held Miami to 1-17 from the field in the second half (5.9%) and 1-17 (5.9%) from long distance for the game. Miami finished the game shooting 17-66 (25.8%) from the field and 3-23 (13%) from beyond the arc.

Clemson went on a 7-0 run in a 47-second span halfway through the second half to extend their lead to 11.

Before a Hayes layup with 10:15 remaining, Miami had missed 15 straight shots in the second half.

Clemson held Miami to under 55 points, accomplishing one of the three team goals. It is the ninth time (in 10 victories) that Clemson has achieved this goal. Clemson also had fewer than 20 turnovers. They have done this in all but three games this season.

Audra Smith Quotes

“I’m really proud of these girls. They stuck together, stuck to the game plan and they were ferocious defensively. They switched to help each other out, they rebounded, and even though they outrebounded us, we limited their scoring opportunities. The whole plan was to not worry about our offense and what we run because we know we can score, we just have to defend. We held them to 52 points and that was great. The whole point of our gameplan was to make Miami work for everything and I felt like we accomplished that.”