Posted on Thu, Nov. 20, 2008

Dawn Staley’s first home game at South Carolina began with a rousing ovation for the Gamecocks’ new coach and ended with Staley promising the crowd that things will get better.

Spartanburg native Lele Hardy pumped in 17 points to lift Clemson to a 52-45 win against its instate rival Wednesday, spoiling Staley’s home debut in front of about 3,000 fans at Colonial Life Arena.

Clemson (2-1) snapped a three-game losing streak to USC, beating the Gamecocks for the first time since an 87-79 overtime win in Columbia on Dec. 3, 2004.

The Gamecocks (0-2) have lost their first two games for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

The 38-year-old Staley, the former Olympic and WNBA star who came to USC following a successful eight-year run at Temple, received the loudest cheers during the pregame introductions. But Clemson took the crowd out of the game by scoring 17 of the first 21 points, including an early 3-pointer by Hardy.

Tigers coach Cristy McKinney said she was hoping for a fast start to offset the energy in the building.

“We talked about that, how the crowd was going to be into it (for) Dawn’s first game,” McKinney said. “And if we could play (well) early, that would help.”

Clemson led by as many as 17 points in the first half before the Gamecocks trimmed the deficit to 31-24 at halftime. USC pulled within four in the second half but could never come up with the big shots to get a long run going.

The Gamecocks shot 32.7 percent from the floor and were 1-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc.

USC’s three seniors — forwards C.J. Pace and Demetress Adams and guard Brionna Dickerson — combined for 10 points on 4-of-20 shooting.

“They’re going to have to fill up the stat sheet a little bit better than they did,” Staley said.

McKinney said the Tigers were mindful of stopping Dickerson, a shooting guard from Columbia who was 1-for-10 from the floor.

Adams, who led the Gamecocks in scoring and rebounding in the season-opening loss at Penn State, fouled out with 8:13 remaining after being called for an illegal screen.

Adams played 22 minutes and made just one field goal — 25 seconds before picking up her fifth foul. She finished with 2 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Point guard Lauren Falohun was the Gamecocks’ only scorer in double figures with 10 points.

For the second game in a row, USC lost despite holding an opponent under 60 points. Staley thought her team played well defensively: The Tigers did not shoot much better than USC at 37.3 percent.

Gamecocks guard Miranda Tate, who came off the bench to score 8 points, said she was surprised USC came out flat.

“I was shocked, really,” said Tate, a freshman from Bolingbrook, Ill. “But we picked it up. We fought hard to get back in it. We just got down by too many.”

After the game, Staley took the microphone at press row to thank the crowd for coming out and encouraged fans to return, telling them “there aren’t going to be many days like today.”

But with all of last year’s Final Four participants on the schedule, Staley knows she has to find more scoring.

“They were trying,” she said. “But close only counts in horseshoes. We’ve got to win.”

Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.

Clemson	31	21	—	52
USC	24	21	—	45
CLEMSON	MP	FG	FT	R	A	F	Pt
Parker	27	5-8	0-0	4	0	5	10
Hood	28	5-10	0-0	2	0	2	10
Wright	31	0-4	2-2	1	2	2	2
Hardy	33	6-15	4-6	9	2	2	17
Taylor	26	2-3	1-2	7	5	2	5
Smith	20	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0
Brown	14	0-5	0-0	2	0	2	0
Thomas	22	3-10	0-1	3	2	1	6
Tate	8	0-2	0-0	1	0	0	0
Mason	5	0-1	0-0	1	0	0	0
Pauldo	4	1-1	0-0	1	2	1	2
Totals	200	22-59	7-11	37	11	20	52
USC	MP	FG	FT	R	A	F	Pt
Pace	21	2-6	0-0	3	0	1	4
Adams	22	1-4	0-0	11	1	5	2
May	17	0-1	2-2	4	0	4	2
Falohun	27	3-4	4-4	1	1	0	10
Dickerson	37	1-10	2-4	5	0	0	4
Kennedy	19	0-3	0-0	1	2	0	0
Sutton	8	2-4	1-4	3	0	1	5
Tate	18	3-6	1-3	0	2	0	8
Williams	22	3-7	2-2	8	0	3	8
Wheeler	9	1-4	0-0	1	0	1	2
Totals	200	16-49	12-19	39	6	25	45

3-pointers—Clemson 1-6 (Hardy 1-3, Wright 0-1, Thomas 0-2), USC 1-8 (Tate 1-2, Dickerson 0-3, Pace 0-2, Kennedy 0-1). Turnovers—USC 25, Clemson 20. Officials—Kantner, Dean, Fountain. A—2,315