Nov. 21, 2007
Complete Clemson Women’s Basketball Notes
CLEMSON, SC – Head Coach Cristy McKinney will lead the Lady Tigers against her former Rice team on Friday at the Coors Classic in Boulder, CO. Clemson (2-3) and Rice (5-1) are scheduled for their first meeting in history in the first round of the tournament at 7:00 (EST) held at the Coors Events Center on the campus of the University of Colorado. The Lady Tigers will then face either the host-Buffalos or Siena on Saturday.
Senior D’Lesha Lloyd is coming off of a 17-point performance against Vanderbilt on Tuesday night and is averaging 10.5 points in just two games this season to lead the Lady Tigers. Christy Brown and Sthefany Thomas are also posting double figures while Lele Hardy owns a team-high 7.6 rebounding average. Hardy boasts Clemson bests with 22 assists and 16 steals for the 2007-08 season.
McKinney spent 12 seasons at the helm of the Rice program before being hired as the head coach at Clemson in April of 2005.She compiled a 216-139 record with the Lady Owls from 1993-2005, guiding Rice to a pair of NCAA Tournaments. McKinney left as the winningest coach in program history. The native of Rockwell, NC is now in her third season rebuilding the Lady Tiger program. Clemson has compiled a 22-41 record in the two-plus years. McKinney brought with her from Rice assistant coaches Shanice Stephens and Todd Steelman. Stephens has now been with McKinney for 12 seasons, while Steelman spent two years at Rice before making the move to Clemson.
Scouting Rice The Lady Owls enter the tournament with a 5-1 record, most recently winning 49-39 over Arkansas-Little Rock on Nov. 20. They have also posted wins against Navy, North Texas and Winthrop to claim the Winthrop Adidas Classic in Rock Hill, SC over the Nov. 9-11 weekend.
Valerie Berezhynska leads the Rice team in both scoring and rebounding with respective 20.2 and 8.6 per game averages. Maudess Fulton is also putting up 16.2 points per game and has hit 10 three-point shots in the Lady Owls’ six games.
The team is averaging 3.8 three-point field goals per game while draining 27.1-percent of its attempts from long-range. Berezhynska has also blocked seven shots in just five games, helping Rice to average 3.8 per contest.
Scouting Colorado The Buffalos will be playing their first home games of the 2007-08 season when they kick off their own Coors Classic on Friday. They opened with a win at San Francisco on Nov. 16 before falling at Southern California on the 18th.
Brittany Spears (no, not the pop star) is leading the Buffalo offense with a 17.0 average in the two games. She has also collected 14 rebounds with seven steals so far this season. Jackie McFarland and Aija Putnina are each averaging 7.5 rebounds per game to lead the squad.
Overall, the Buffalos are putting up 61.5 points per game and are shooting a 41.4-percentage from the field.
Scouting Siena The Saints bring a 1-3 record into the Thanksgiving weekend. Most recently, they defeated Long Island on the road by a 54-47 margin.
Three Siena players are averaging in double figures led by Laura Menty’s 18.5 points per game. Melissa Manzer and Shondaya Burrell then own 13.5 and 12.3 averages, respectively. Menty is also leading the team on the boards with a 5.5 per game average.
Meanwhile, Manzer is shooting 41.9-percent from long range, having drained 13 three-point field goals already this season. The Saints have hit just 16 threes as a team this season.
Coors Classic Schedule Clemson and Rice will kick off the 2007 Coors Classic on Friday night at 5:00 pm (Mountain Time) from the Coors Events Center. The host Buffalos and Siena will follow at 7:30 pm. The winners of Friday’s games will play in the championship at 7:30 pm on Saturday night, while the consolation game will be held at 5:00 pm on Saturday.
April 24, 2024
