Lady Tigers Travel South to Play FSU Thursday

Jan. 3, 2012

Game Notes Game Setup:Clemson Lady Tigers (4-8, 0-1 ACC) v. Florida State Seminoles (8-7, 0-1 ACC)Date: Thursday, January 5, 2012Time: 7:00 PMCity: Tallahassee, FLSite: Donald L. Tucker CenterRadio: *Gametracker*The Clemson women’s basketball team returns to action on Thursday as they take on the Florida State Seminoles on Thursday at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee. The game marks Clemson’s (4-8, 0-1 ACC) first ACC road game of the season, and fifth road contest overall. Florida State (8-7, 0-1 ACC) will play a second straight ACC home game, as they fell to a top-five Maryland squad on Jan. 2. Clemson is coming off a 55-33 loss in the conference opener to Virginia Tech, a game in which the Lady Tigers failed to get much going offensively, except at the line, where they hit a season-best 13-15 from the stripe. Defensively, Clemson has held its opponents to 65 points or fewer in eight of twelve games this season, and are allowing opponents to hit just .290 of their shots from behind the arc. Clemson holds a 24-18 all-time mark against the Seminoles and a 11-9 record in Tallahassee, but Florida State has won the last six games overall. Last season, Clemson fell, 67-50, in Tallahassee as the `Noles got 22 points from Alexa Deluzio and 15 from Cierra Bravard. Clemson hit 10-21 from behind the arc, but hit just 9-39 from two-point territory in the game. The Lady Tigers enter the game among the best teams in the league at shot-blocking, averaging 6.8 per contest, which is second-best in the league. Senior Lindsey Mason is third in the conference, registering 2.4 per game and has moved into sixth in Clemson history as she has 119 career blocked shots. Mason is one of just two seniors, along with Shaniqua Pauldo, on the Clemson roster. Pauldo is second on the team at 10.4 points per game, and has pumped in 20 or more points three times this season. Clemson’s youth has been apparent lately, with four freshmen taking 53 percent of the team’s minutes and 48 percent of the scoring, led by Nikki Dixon’s 12.8 points per game, which leads the team. Natiece Ford came alive in the most recent game, netting a team-high eight points, including the first two three-point goals of her career. Chelsea Lindsay ranks among the top five in the league in minutes played per game among all players, as she is logging an average of 33.2 minutes per game. Clemson will return home to take on Virginia on Sunday at 2:00 pm after the road trip to Florida State.