Lady Tigers Run Past Davidson on Opening Night

by TigerNet Staff - Fri Nov 11 21:49:33 GMT-04:00 2011

CLEMSON, SC - The Clemson women’s basketball team got the 2011-12 season underway with a 72-62 win over Davidson (0-1) on Friday evening. The Lady Tigers (1-0) outscored the Wildcats 24-0 on the fast break and forced 26 turnovers on their way to the season-opening win.

“I think we played extremely hard, not always efficient, but certainly hard,” said Head Coach Itoro Coleman, who began her second season as Clemson’s leader on Friday. “We were all on the same page tonight. They [The Tigers] do a really great job of rallying around each other and showing support.”

The Lady Tigers, who return just four players from the 2010-11 season, saw freshmen and sophomores combine for 62 of the team’s 72 points. Freshman Nikki Dixon dazzled in her debut, tallying 21 points on 7-14 shooting and a 6-7 mark from the line, and stuffed the box score with five rebounds and five assists as well.

Clemson held Davidson to a 37.7 percent mark from the field and got out in the passing lanes to the tune of 18 steals, and turned the 26 Wildcat turnovers into 29 points, while surrendering just ten of their own.

Preseason SoCon Player-of-the-Year Sophia Aleksandravicius had 20 points on 7-16 shooting and nine boards, while Laura Murray added 21 points for the Wildcats, who fall to 0-3 all-time against Clemson. This was the first meeting between the teams since 1977.

Sophomore Quinyotta Pettaway tripled her previous career high with 12 points on 5-10 shooting, and led the Tigers with eight rebounds, four on each end. Freshman guard Chelsea Lindsay also hit double-figures with ten points, and also added four assists, four rebounds, and four steals for good measure in her collegiate debut.

Sophomore Chancie Dunn had nine points and five assists, while freshman Kelly Gramlich came off the bench and hit two first-half threes on her way to seven points.

Clemson used an 8-0 run in the first half to get some separation, and used a 19-6 run that carried over from the first half into the second, and led by as many as 20 points in the second half with 11:58 to play

“We have to be able to put two halves together and make sure that we can execute down the stretch. Davidson is a very well-coached team, but for the most part we were able to play them well.”

The Lady Tigers stay at home to play South Carolina State on Sunday at 2:00 pm in Littlejohn before welcoming the Gamecocks to town on Nov. 17.