Women’s Basketball Hopes To Stay Hot Against #11 Duke.

Jan. 15, 2000

CLEMSON, S.C. – Unranked Clemson has beaten two consecutive Top 25 opponents and looks to upset No. 11 Duke. Clemson (11-5, 2-2 ACC) has built a two-game winning streak after upsetting previously undefeated No. 3 North Carolina State 71-56 on Thursday night. Three days earlier, the Tigers upset No. 15 North Carolina 60-59 at Chapel Hill.

Clemson held North Carolina State to its lowest offensive output of the season. The Wolfpack’s previous low was 62 points in victories over Drake and Florida State. Clemson was the last team to hold North Carolina State to even fewer points in 52-51 victory over the Wolfpack in the quarterfinals of last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Clemson’s stingy double-team defense held star center Summer Erb to just five field goal attempts, less than half her average.

“Our help-side defense was superb, and our defense overall, I thought, was as good as it’s been all year,” Clemson coach Jim Davis said.

The Tigers led 26-17 at halftime, opened the second half with a 9-4 run and led by as many as 14. Chrissy Floyd scored 15, Nuria Forns had 13 and Angie Cosssey chipped in 11 for Clemson.

Duke (15-1, 4-0) is the only unbeaten team in the ACC and owns a 14-game winning streak. Its only non-conference loss came against No. 25 Boston College in the Preseason WNIT on Nov. 17.

The Blue Devils lead the ACC in scoring defense (52.9), rebounding margin (8.7) and in field-goal percentage defense (35.3).

“The team is very proud of its defense,” Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. “We put up the ACC stats every week in the locker room. We want to lead the league in field-goal percent defense and points allowed per game, and we take great pride in that.”

On Thursday, Duke defeated Wake Forest 82-48 on the strength of Missy West’s career-high 22 points. The Blue Devils took an early 9-0 lead and built a 40-20 halftime lead. West had six 3-pointers for Duke. She was just one shy of the school’s record of most 3-pointers in one game. Georgia Schweitzer and Peppi Brown had 10 points each and Brown added seven rebounds.

“Peppi Browne has been playing so well,” Goestenkors said. “She’s playing the best basketball right now. She kept us in the game offensively in the first half.”

Clemson leads the overall series against Duke, 31-17, with the Tigers winning the last two meetings.