Saturday, Jan. 03, 2009

Women Tigers’ rally falls short against the 49ers

Charlotte 58, Clemson 51

CLEMSON — The Clemson women’s basketball team cut a 17-point second-half deficit against Charlotte three with 1:12 remaining, but the Tigers could not overtake the 49ers, who claimed the victory Friday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.

The 49ers led 50-33 at the 9:06 mark in the second half when Clemson put together an 11-0 run. Jasmine Tate grabbed a defensive board and Sthefany Thomas converted on the offensive end to spark the run. Following a basket by Whitney Hood, Thomas drained a three from the left wing with 6:44 left.

Tate put the deficit under 10 points with a free throw and Bryelle Smith knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 50-44.

The 49ers went back up by 10 with baskets by Shannon McCallum and Danielle Burgin. Tasha Taylor responded with a pair of free throws for the Tigers and Lele Hardy made a layup on Clemson’s next possession to cut the Charlotte lead back to six. Thomas then hit her third three-pointer of the game to put the Tigers within three at 54-51 at the 1:12 mark.

However, Clemson could not hit another shot and the 49ers converted four free throws down the stretch. Charlotte improved to 9-4; the Tigers dropped to 9-4.

“The problem was that we couldn’t shoot the ball tonight,” Clemson coach Cristy McKinney said. “The first few minutes of the game, we were missing all of our shots, and we quit running our offense after that. We didn’t take bad shots, we just shot badly.”

The Tigers were 6-of-8 during their 18-4 run, but were 19-of-59 from the field for the game for their least productive effort of the season. Thomas’ 11 points led the squad, while Taylor had eight for the night.

McCallum posted 21 to lead Charlotte while Erin Floyd turned in a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Burgin also pulled down 11 rebounds as the 49ers were dominant on the boards, grabbing 51 to Clemson’s 34.

— From Staff Reports

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