North Carolina Downs Clemson 89-85 In Women’s Hoops

Jan. 13, 2002

Clemson, SC – Coretta Brown scored a season high 26 points, including a career best six three-point goals, and Nikki Teasley added 20, leading North Carolina to an 89-85 victory over Clemson on Sunday afternoon at Littlejohn Coliseum. The 16th ranked (USA Today) Tar Heels improved to 14-3 overall, 4-1 in the ACC, while Clemson fell to 10-6 overall, 2-3 in the ACC. It was the fifth straight regular season game between the two teams that has been decided by seven points or less.

Kenya McBee, a native of nearby Greenville, SC added a career high 17 points and 12 rebounds in her first career start, while guard Leah Metcalf added 15 for the Tar Heels, who lead the ACC in scoring. Chrystal Baptist added seven points and 11 rebounds for North Carolina, who won the battle of the boards, 46-39. Clemson committed just 12 turnovers and had nine steals on defense. Both teams shot 44 percent from the field, but North Carolina made eight more three-point goals.

Teasley contributed six assists and five rebounds in her performance. The senior moved into second place on the ACC career assist list with the six assists and now has 609, second only to the total recorded by former Virginia All-American Dawn Staley (729). Clemson had all five of its starters in double figures, yet lost the game. Leading scorer Chrissy Floyd again led the Lady Tigers with 19 points. She also had seven rebounds and three steals in her 35 minutes of action. Marci Glenney contributed 16 point, five rebounds and three steals.

Freshman center Lacey Shafer had a career high 15 points and six rebounds. That included the first three-point goal of her career. She did all that in just 23 minutes. Shafer had just just 10 points all season entering the contest.

Leah Roper made her fourth career start and contributed her first career double-double. The junior college transfer had 11 points and 10 rebounds and did not have a turnover in 26 minutes of play. Point guard Krystal Scott had 11 points and four assists with just two turnovers in 32 minutes. Maggie Slosser almost gave the Lady Tigers a sixth player in double figures, as the sophomore had eight points and seven rebounds as a reserve.

Three-point shooting was a key to the game. North Carolina made 13-26 three-point shots, while Clemson was 5-13. The 24 points on three-point attempts made the difference. The 13 three-point goals were just one shy of North Carolina single game mark of 14 set 11 years ago. Clemson had five different players make a three-point goal, to just four different players for the Tar Heels, but no Tiger made more than one. Three different Tar Heels made at least three, including the six by Brown.

The game was played at a high level throughout. North Carolina took a 21-11 lead in the first eight minutes of the contest. Teasley hit a three-point goal from the right wing, the 200th of her career, to give North Carolina that 10-point advantage. But Clemson came back with eight points in a row to cut the margin to 21-19 at the 10-minute mark.

North Carolina got the lead back to eight at 37-29 at the 6:08 mark on another three-point goal by Teasley. The Tar heels had a 47-43 lead at intermission.

North Carolina got the lead back to eight at 52-44 just two minutes into the second half when McBee connected on just her sixth three-point goal of the season from the top of the key. Clemson then went on a 16-1 run to take a 60-55 lead at 13:57 left. Krystal Scott’s three-point goal from the left side gave Clemson a 56-53 lead, its first advantage since the first two minutes of the game. Clemson still had a five-point lead at 62-57 after Marci Glenney pull-up jumper. But, North Carolina began a barrage of three-point shots with 13 minutes left. They scored three-point goals on three straight scoring possessions, one by Metcalf and two by Brown, to take a 66-64 lead at the 11:25 mark. The two teams went back and forth exchanging the lead for the next few minutes.

North Carolina took the lead for good at 71-69 on a three-point goal by Brown with 8:07 left. Clemson trailed by seven (85-78) with 3:49 mark, but went on a 5-0 run to cut the margin to 85-83 with 1:12 left on a three-point goal by Julie Aderhold. But, North Carolina scored on its next possession on a buck by Metcalf. Clemson then scored on a layup by Scott to cut the margin to 87-85 with 45 seconds left.

After a defensive stop, Clemson got the ball back with a chance to tie with 12 seconds remaining. Krystal Scott drove the lane with five seconds left, but her runner from five feet hit the backboard and rim, but bounded away and Teasley collected the rebound. She made two free throws to give North Carolina the 89-85 winning margin. Clemson’s next contest will be Thursday evening at Wake Forest. The Tar heels will be in action that same night when Georgia Tech comes to Chapel Hill.