Lady Tigers Set to Take on Virginia Tech Thursday

Site: Blacksburg, VA (Cassell Coliseum)Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013Time: 7:00 PMVideo Stream: Hokies All-Access at HokieSports.com ($)Radio: Clemson Tiger Sports Network or ClemsonTigers.com (Don Munson, Kanetra Queen)Livestats: ClemsonTigers.com

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson women’s basketball team will travel to Blacksburg, VA to play Virginia Tech on Thursday at 7:00 pm in Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies (7-12, 1-7 ACC) are hosting their Military Appreciation game against the Lady Tigers (5-14, 1-7 ACC). Clemson is 6-7 against the Hokies all-time, but did win the most recent meeting in Blacksburg.

On Feb. 3 of last season, Clemson overcame a 15-point deficit to defeat the Hokies, 55-51, in overtime. Nikki Dixon had 13 of her game-high 19 points after halftime, despite receiving stitches on her forehead after a first-half collision. In an earlier meeting last season in Littlejohn, Virginia Tech held Clemson to .205 shooting in a 55-33 win.

Clemson opens a stretch of four of the next five on the road with the Hokies, who have dropped seven league games in a row after winning their ACC opener against Wake Forest, whom Clemson also defeated. The Lady Tigers played back-to-back games against top ten teams for the first time since Feb. 13-21, 2000 in their two most recent games.

Virginia Tech’s Uju Ugoka (13.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and Monet Tellier (13.1 ppg) account for more than half of their team’s scoring, as the Hokies enter averaging 49.7 points per game as a team.

Clemson counters with Dixon, who is the Lady Tigers’ leading scorer (14.6 ppg) for a second straight season. The sophomore has tallied 16,4 points per game in ACC play, which ranks fourth among all league players. She’s also averaging 2.7 steals per game, which ranks third in the conference overall.

Another key piece will be the play of Quinyotta Pettaway, who has been held to 11 points and 11 rebounds over the past two games, dropping her season averages to 9.3 and 9.2 respectively. Pettaway has six double-doubles this season, and will be key if Clemson hopes to clear the boards, and aspect they struggled with in Blacksburg last season, when the Hokies had 28 offensive rebounds.

After playing Virginia Tech, Clemson will return home for a day before heading on the road to play a top-20 Florida State squad in Tallahassee.