Lady Tigers To Open ACC Tournament Play On Thursday

March 4, 2009

CLEMSON, SC – The Lady Tigers will begin play in the 2009 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday morning as they take on Georgia Tech in first-round action. The two teams will kick off this year’s event with an approximately 11:00 am tip-off at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC. Clemson is the #12 seed and enters tournament play with a 13-16 regular season record and a 2-12 ACC mark. The Yellow Jackets earned the fifth seed with a 21-8 overall record and an 8-6 ledger in conference play.

Broadcast Notes * Thursday’s game will be broadcast on the ACC’s regional networks, including Fox Sports Net South, Fox Sports Net Florida, ComCast Sports Network and the New England Sports Network * Mike Hogewood will call the play-by-play with Debbie Antonelli serving as color analyst * The action will also be broadcast on WCCP on the radio with Don Munson and Kanetra Queen. * Livestats will be available on www.clemsontigers.com.

Clemson Quick Notes * Lele Hardy became Clemson’s first all-conference honoree since 2003 with her third-team selection and is also now just the third different player in program history to be named to the ACC All-Defensive Team * Clemson and Georgia Tech have already met twice this season with the Yellow Jackets posting the victory in both games * The Lady Tigers own a 28-29 all-time record at the ACC Tournament * Nine current players have seen action at the conference tournament in their careers * McKinney has used 14 different starting lineups this season with 10 different players earning the assignment * Thursday’s game will be the ninth televised contest for Clemson this season, the most since the 2002-03 season * Lele Hardy became just the 21st player in school history to score 1,000 career points, doing so with 13 points in the Lady Tigers’ game against Virginia Tech. She now ranks 17th all-time with 1,105 career points * Hardy’s 276 career steals are third in school history and her 94 in 2008-09 rank fourth most for a single season * Lele Hardy ranks third in the ACC in rebounding (8.7 rpg) and fifth in scoring (16.7 ppg) * Hardy ranks seventh nationally in steals, through Mar. 1 games, and has scored in double figures in all but four games this season * Hardy holds the school record with a 3.07 career steals per game average * Taylor and Christy Brown both rank in the top six for career assists per game * Taylor ranks fourth all-time with 422 career assists * Tasha Taylor graduated on Dec. 18 with a degree in sport management * The Lady Tigers won five straight games from late November to mid-December after trailing at halftime, a program first * With a 8-2 record though the first 10 games of the season, Clemson had its best start since the 2003-04 season and its best record through 10 games under Head Coach Cristy McKinney * Clemson won the Husky Classic over the Thanksgiving weekend Lele Hardy was named the MVP of the Husky Classic while Whitney Hood was selected to the all-tournament team * Clemson has nine players from the state of Georgia on its roster, which is tops in the nation for a school in a different state, according to a survey by the SID at George Mason

Series Notes * Clemson and Georgia Tech will be meeting for the 62nd time on Thursday in a series that dates back to 1980. * The Lady Tigers won that first match-up and own a 41-20 all-time advantage over the Yellow Jackets. * However, Georgia Tech has bested Clemson in each of the last seven games, including the teams’ two earlier match-ups this season. * The Lady Tigers’ last win in the series was a 72-68 decision at Littlejohn Coliseum during the 2005-06 season. * They last defeated the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta in 2003-04. * The two teams have met just four times in the conference tournament with the Lady Tigers holding the 3-1 edge in those games. * The last meeting was in the quarterfinals of the 1993 championship when Clemson posted an 87-66 victory.