West Palm Beach, Fla. – Aided by a 10-point first quarter cushion, Dayton held off multiple Clemson rallies to down the Tigers 60-46 in the teams’ final game of the Palm Beach Invitational. The loss drops the Tigers to 6-6 on the year, while the win moves Dayton to 8-3.
Clemson was led by Delicia Washington, who picked up her second double-double in as many days with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Hannah Hank added eight rebounds, while Daisha Bradford added nine points and finished 3-4 from three.
The Flyers grabbed an early lead over the Tigers, using four threes in the game’s first 10 minutes to take a 20-10 lead. The TIgers rallied in the second, however, opening with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to three. Sparked by free throws following an intentional foul call, Dayton used a 9-0 run to push the lead to 12 at 31-19 and held a 36-26 lead at the half.
Dayton opened its largest lead of the game in the third, at 41-28, but the Tigers battled back to cut the lead to six at 45-39 on a three by Bradford to end the quarter. Clemson continued to battle, using a Bradford three-point play to cut the lead to two just over a minute into the fourth. The Flyers used a huge three from Giacone to push the lead back to five, before the two teams went cold, going almost four minutes without a basket on either end. Dayton then used a 7-0 run to put the game away.
The Tigers are back in action on Thursday, December 30, hosting NC State in Clemson’s first home ACC contest of the year.
