Raleigh, N.C. – N.C. State forced 23 turnovers en route to a 69-45 victory over Clemson to conclude the regular season for both teams. The 45 points marked a season low for Clemson. The 19th-ranked Wolfpack finished the regular season at 21-6, 10-4 in the ACC. N.C. State finished third in the conference. Clemson finished the regular season at 8-19, 2-12 in the ACC.
Four Wolfpack players reached double figures, led by Billie McDowell with 17 and Khadijah Whittington with 15. Marquetta Dickens scored 11, all in the second half. For Clemson, only two players reached double figures. Tasha Taylor had 12 on 5-13 shooting, while Reggie Maddox added 10. Maddox added eight rebounds and two steals. Clemson shot just 35.3 percent from the field, its lowest total of the 2004-05 season.
Clemson forward D’Lesha Lloyd and guard Julie Talley struggled to the tune of 2-17 shooting. After six early points, Amanda White was shut out the rest of the game. The Lady Tigers were outrebounded 43-36 and totaled just seven assists and seven steals. N.C. State shot 51.9 percent in the second half and finished with 14 steals. The Wolfpack outscored the Lady Tigers 30-6 in points off turnovers, which proved to be the 24-point final margin.
The first half was a struggle for both teams offensively. Both teams shot exactly 8-30 from the field. Lloyd and Taylor combined to go 1-14 for the Lady Tigers.
Clemson claimed a 19-18 lead at one point behind a turnaround basket from Adrianne Bradshaw, but failed to score for the final three minutes of the opening half. N.C. State guard Monica Pope ended the low-scoring half by running the entire length of the court for an uncontested layup to put the Wolfpack up 22-19 at the break. The 19 points scored by Clemson was its lowest first-half mark since a loss to UCLA on November 24, 2004.
White had six points on 3-3 shooting for the Lady Tigers in the first half. McDowell and Key had five points apiece in the half for N.C. State. The Wolfpack got to the line 11 times in the opening half, thanks to 11 personal fouls on Clemson. However, N.C. State struggled to make just four charity shots on the 11 attempts.
In the second half, N.C. State aggressively took the ball to the basket and was again successful getting to the line. Marquetta Dickens and McDowell began to heat up for the Wolfpack. N.C. State threatened to pull out to big leads in the second half on two separate occasions. First, Dickens hit a three-pointer to give the Pack a 40-29 lead. Clemson’s Moreemi Davis responded with a three-point play to trim the lead to eight again. Following a three-pointer by McDowell that gave N.C. State a 44-32 lead, Taylor responded with two quick baskets to cut the lead to eight again.
The Wolfpack forced 17 turnovers in the second half and stretched their lead on three three consecutive outside shots by McDowell, Ashley Key, and Pope. Holding a 47-38 lead, the Wolfpack finished the game on a 22-7 run to put away the Lady Tigers.
N.C. State shot 18-32 from the free throw line, while Clemson had just 14 attempts in the entire game. In addition, Clemson had its worst outside shooting performance of the season in its final game. The Lady Tigers were 1-17 from beyond the three-point line. N.C. State hit 7-20 from outside the arc.
The Lady Tigers next play in the ACC Tournament on Friday, March 4 in Greensboro, NC. Clemson, the #11 seed, will face #6 Maryland in the first round at 8:00 PM from the Greensboro Coliseum. The winner will advance to the second round Saturday to take on #3 seed N.C. State.
April 23, 2024
