ClemsonWBB beat BC in Play4Kay Game

by CU Athletic Communications - Thu Feb 20 22:23:32 GMT-04:00 2014

CLEMSON, SC - Senior Chancie Dunn scored a career-high 22 points and a total of four Tigers hit double-figures, propelling the Clemson women’s basketball team to a 72-67 win over Boston College Thursday night in Littlejohn Coliseum in the Play4Kay Pink Game. The win snapped a five-game skid, as the Tigers improved to 12-16, and 4-10 in league play.

It was the Tigers’ second straight victory over the Eagles (12-16, 3-11 ACC), the first this season. Clemson withstood an early bombardment of from BC, who hit 11 of their first 16 attempts, five of which were behind the arc, in building a 26-15 lead nine minutes into the contest.

However, Dunn sparked a 19-5 run gave the Tigers a 41-35 lead going into halftime. The Decatur-native netted 17 points on 8-14 from the field, while Nikki Dixon and Quinyotta Pettaway each added eight points in the frame.

Clemson established a presence in the paint early, as they almost doubled up Boston College in points in the paint, 34-18, many of those buckets coming via Quinyotta Pettaway, who had 11 points on 5-10 shooting.

The Tigers outscored the Eagles 30-9 in bench points, with Dixon off the bench as the third of four Tigers with double digits tonight, putting up 19. She also led the team with six rebounds and four steals on the night.

Kelly Gramlich was the fourth Tiger in double digits, adding 15, including six made free throws in the last 21 seconds of the game to ice the victory. Gramlich has now scored in double figures ten times this season.

The Tigers will play at home again Sunday as they host Florida State, in what will be senior day for Chancie Dunn and Quinyotta Pettaway.

Player of the Game: Chancie Dunn - Dunn's career-high 22 points, including 17 in the first half, came in her 106th career game, and second-to-last at home. She also added five rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes of action

Stat of the Game: +16, +21: Clemson outscored Boston College 34-18 in the paint and 30-9 off the bench in the victory

Team Notes

Clemson earned its 12th win of the season its highest win total since the 2009-10 season

The Tiger defense forced its first turnover at the 9:51 mark sparking a defensive turnaround allowing only 2 assists and forcing 8 turnovers the remainder of the half.

After facing an 11-point deficit early in the first half, Clemson responded with a 19-5 run seizing the lead it would not relinquish.

Clemson outscored Boston College 34-18 in the paint.

Clemson improves to 10-2 this season when leading at the half and 12-3 with a higher field goal percentage.

Clemson shot .475 on the game, its third-highest mark in a league game this season; The Tigers have shot .400 or better nine times in ACC play

The Tigers outrebounded a second consecutive a opponent for the first time since Dec. 5 &14

Individual Notes

Chancie Dunn scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Tigers. Her previous high was 18 January 20, 2011 against Florida State. She also had career-highs of ten field goals made and 18 shot attempts

Dunn’s ten field goals tied for the most by a Tiger this season. Dixon registered ten in two different games in January

Dunn became the fifth different Tiger to score 20+ points in a game this season, joining Dixon, Tay, Pettaway, and Gramlich)

Chelsea Lindsay recorded her 100th assist of the season in the first half. Lindsay had 7 assists on the night, just one short of her career-high.

Kelly Gramlich nailed three 3-pointers, the eleventh time this season she has scored at least three 3-pointers in a single game.

Gramlich had attempted nine free throws all season entering the contest, but made six in the waning seconds of the game. She is now 43-52 (.827) in her career and 13-15 this season.

Nikki Dixon scored in double-figures for the fourteenth time in the last seventeen games. The junior finished with 19 points on the night. She also added six rebounds, four steals, and four assists in just 24 minutes of action

Quinyotta Pettaway finished with 11 points and reached double-digits for the seventh time the last nine games and for the eleventh time on the season.

Nyilah Jamison-Myers had three blocks on the night and has 18 in 14 ACC games, averaging 1.3 blocks per game in conference play.

Jordan Gaillard connected on her first three since January 26 against Miami.

Head Coach Audra Smith Quotes

Opening Thoughts

“As I heard the Boston College staff say in the hallway after the first half, ‘Who is 23?’ For Chancie, it’s her senior year and her second to last home game. She was great tonight. She did a phenomenal job of stepping up to her scoring area and knocking down some shots. Nikki did what we told her to do, attack the basket. Gramlich was phenomenal down the stretch and knocking down those free throws for us. She did a great job. Pettaway came in and gave us some quality minutes as well.

Great team basketball against a team that shoots the three extremely well. We couldn't play a zone because they shoot the ball too well. We just got to exert some energy and deny them. If they drive on us, they drive on us. I’d rather they drive on us than shoot it. We have to play the percentages and take away the three-point shot as best we can and we did a good job of that in the second half.”