NC State Defeats Clemson, 45-43, In The ACC Women’s Tournament

March 6, 2004

GREENSBORO, NC – Kaayla Chones scored 13 points, and Rachel Stockdale added 10 in leading third-seeded N.C. State to a 45-43 win over sixth-seeded Clemson in the quarterfinal round of the 27th Annual Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greensboro, NC Saturday night. N.C. State improves its record to 17-13 overall, while Clemson falls to 17-11 this season.

Clemson was led in scoring by Lakeia Stokes with 23 points. She was 8-19 from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line. She also hit a three-point goal and finished the game with one assist, one block and four steals.

The Wolfpack outrebounded the Lady Tigers 48-31. N.C. State also had 15 offensive boards compared to Clemson’s five. Chones had a game-high 12 rebounds, and Clemson was led in rebounding by Julie Aderhold with seven. The 43 points was also the lowest number points scored by a Clemson team in the history of the program. Clemson scored 44 points vs. Duke on February 21, 2000.

In the first half, N.C. State took a 14-6 lead with 7:55 left on the clock.

Chones scored the first seven points for N.C. State to start the game. From this point, Clemson went on a 10-3 run and narrowed N.C. State’s lead to 17-16 with 3:08 left. N.C. State scored the last four points of the first half and took a 21-16 advantage in the lockerroom.

In the second half, N.C. State had a 31-30 lead with 9:42 left to go in the game. Stokes scored 12 of Clemson first 14 points in the second half. The Lady Tigers took its first lead of the game, 33-31 as Julie Aderhold hit a three-point goal from the right side.

The Lady Tigers took a 34-31 advantage as Stokes hit one of two free throws. From this point, N.C. State went on a 10-3 run and took a 41-37 lead with 2:52 left. The Lady Tigers’ Julie Talley hit two free throws with 1:35 left to narrow the lead to two, 41-39.

Chones hit a jumper with 1:06 left to extend the lead to 43-39 with 1:06 remaining. Stokes hit one of two free throws with :56 second left.

Sasha Reaves hit one of two free throws giving N.C. State a 44-40 advantage with :13 seconds on the clock. Chones rebounded and the Wolfpack’s Terah James was fouled. James hit one of two free throws giving the Wolfpack a 45-40 lead.

Talley hit a three point shot with 1.6 seconds left making the score 45-43.

“We suffered with the same problem tonight, we have all year, not keeping our opponents off the boards,” said Clemson Head Coach Jim Davis. “The bottom line is the lack of rebounding. I think we had a tremendous effort. We deserved better. We are our worst enemy sometimes, especially with some of the mistakes we made toward the end of the game.”