Lady Tigers Fall To #12 Vanderbilt, 82-63, On Sunday Evening

Dec. 3, 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Three Lady Tigers scored in double figures on Sunday night, but Clemson was unable to contain Vanderbilt’s powerful posts as the 12th-ranked (AP) Commodores won the game, 82-63, on Sunday evening at Memorial Gym in Nashville, TN.

The loss dropped the Lady Tigers to 3-5 on the year while Vanderbilt remained undefeated with its eighth victory of the season.

D’Lesha Lloyd led the Lady Tigers with 16 points and Tasha Taylor turned in a 13-point performance. Freshman Lele Hardy posted her second straight double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. She also tallied a personal-best eight steals against Vanderbilt on Sunday.

The Commodores’ Liz Sherwood led all scorers with 22 points on the evening and also collected a team-high 13 rebounds. Carla Thomas added 19 in the contest, while Christina Wirth and Caroline Williams tallied 12 points each.

Vanderbilt’s post players dominated the first half, as Sherwood and Thomas totaled 26 points in the period in leading the Commodores to a 43-27 advantage at the break.

Clemson kept the score close for the first six minutes of the game, trailing just 13-11 at the 13:25 mark. However, Vanderbilt posted 12 unanswered points to open up a 15-point lead with 9:04 remaining. The Lady Tigers responded with a 11-2 run of their own as Lele Hardy recorded one of her five steals in the half and capitalized on the turnover to cut the deficit to five points at 27-22 with 5:18 left.

The Commodores then closed out the period on a 16-5 run for the 15-point halftime advantage.

Vanderbilt’s lead stretched to 21 points at the 13:57 mark of the second half as Sherwood converted a lay-up to put the Commodores ahead, 53-32. Clemson scored the next six points to narrow the gap back to 15 as Adrianne Bradshaw hit a jumper and Taylor posted four points with 12:35 remaining.

However, the Commodores then hit their largest lead of the game at 67-43 as Williams drained a three-pointer from the wing at the 7:56 mark. The Lady Tigers were unable to close the gap to less than 17 for the remainder of the game as Vanderbilt claimed the victory.

The Commodores recorded a .444 field goal percentage on 28-63 shooting, while the Clemson hit just 36.9% of its shots (24-65).

The Lady Tigers will return to action on Wednesday night as they will travel to Harrisonburg, VA to take on the James Madison Dukes.