Old Dominion Defeats Clemson, 68-57 In Women’s Basketball

Nov. 24, 1999

HARTFORD, Conn. – Luienne Berthieu scored 18 points, while teammates Tiffany Thompson and Sharron Francis both added 13 points each in leading 15th-ranked Old Dominion to a 68-57 win over Clemson in the first game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge at Hartford, CT Wednesday afternoon.

Amirah Leonard added a career-high 25 points for the Lady Tigers. Clemson’s Krystal Scott and Chrissy Floyd both added nine points each in the game.

Old Dominion improves its record to 2-0 this season, while Clemson falls to 2-1 on the year. The Lady Tigers will play the loser of the Kentucky-Connecticut game at 1:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. Old Dominion is ranked 16th by the Associated Press and 15th by USA Today. In the first half, Old Dominion was leading 12-11 with 7:46 left to go in the half. From this point, the Monarchs went on an 8-0 run with 3:42 left to go building a 20-11 advantage. Clemson did not score for 5:04. With 3:42 left to go, Clemson outscored the Monarchs for the remainder of the first period 9-5 to narrow the lead 25-20 at the intermission.

In the second half, Old Dominion took its largest lead of the game 46-31 with 12:50 remaining in the game. From this point, Clemson went on an 18-5 run and narrowed the lead to just two points 51-49 with 7:24 left. In this Lady Tiger rally, Leonard scored 10 points.

From this point the Monarchs went on 13-2 scoring spree that was led by Berthieu with six points extending the Old Dominion lead to 64-51 with 3:23 left.

Clemson shot 18-58 from the field for a .310 mark including a 10-32 performance (.313) in the second half. Old Dominion shot 25-57 from the floor for a .474 figure for the game. The Monarchs shot 17-28 from the field in the second half for a .607 mark. Old Dominion won the battle of the boards 45-31, including 17 offensive boards. The Monarchs also won the contest for most points in the paint 36-18.

“Our young ladies fought their hearts out and worked very hard,” said Clemson Head Coach Jim Davis. “I am pleased with the effort but not the production. We have to play with more basketball smarts. Defensively, we were at a disadvantage with our lack of size. Being out rebounded was the key to the game. We fought hard and never gave up. I am proud of our effort, but points in the paint was the difference,” said Davis. “An ugly win is better than a pretty loss,” said Old Dominion Head Coach Wendy Larry. “We put the ball in the hole better. Alli Spence and Nicole Bellinghausen did a great job coming off the bench for us and gave us quality minutes. I respect Clemson’s Head Coach Jim Davis and the job he does. He has a young team this year and they did a great job attacking the rim.

“Defensively, we did not move as effectively as I would have liked. We controlled the boards well,” continued Larry.