Lady Tigers Defeat Paladins, 67-62, On Wednesday Night

Nov. 29, 2006

CLEMSON, SC – D’Lesha Lloyd led the Clemson women’s basketball team in scoring for third straight game and freshman Lele Hardy posted the first double-double of her career as the Lady Tigers defeated Furman, 67-62, at Littlejohn Coliseum on Wednesday night. The Lady Tigers improved to 3-4 with the win, while the Paladins fell to 3-3 on the year.

“We’re happy to get a win,” said Head Coach Cristy McKinney. “When we played hard, we made good things happen.”

Lloyd tallied 16 points with 13 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. The Columbia, SC native also set a personal best with six steals on the night.

Hardy finished with 13 points on 4-9 shooting with 10 rebounds, five steals and three assists.

“Lele’s intensity and desire is what we need everyone on the team to feed off of,” McKinney said.

Courtney Opie led Furman with 19 points, while Chrissy Phelps added 10 points and a team-best nine rebounds.

Clemson’s Tasha Taylor scored the first points of the night on a lay-up at the 18:47 mark, and the Lady Tigers held the lead throughout the first half. Clemson increased the advantage to seven points at 15-8 as Susan Yenser drained a three-pointer from the corner with 13:06 remaining. The teams then traded baskets for the next six minutes until Adrianne Bradshaw converted a free throw to put the Lady Tigers on top, 20-12. Clemson’s lead reached nine points after Carrie Whitehurst sank a three from the wing at the 6:05 mark.

However, the Paladins outscored the Lady Tigers, 10-4, in the final six minutes of the period, including seven points by Opie, to cut the deficit to 27-24 at the break.

Furman then took its only lead of the night at 28-27 by hitting the first two shots of the second half. Clemson responded with a 14-0 run to hold a 41-28 advantage at the 14:43 mark. A three-pointer by Kali Holtfreter ended the Paladin draught, but the Lady Tigers then posted six unanswered points to take their largest lead of the night at 47-31 with 12:21 remaining.

Clemson’s lead was cut to five points at 57-52 with just under four minutes left as Furman capitalized on a run of its own. Hardy grabbed a missed Lloyd shot and completed a three-point play for her 10th rebound and 11th point to put the Lady Tigers back on top by nine at the 2:09 mark. Clemson then held on in the final minutes to post the victory.

The Lady Tigers will travel to Nashville, TN this weekend to take on 14th ranked Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time.