McMillan's Big Game Not Enough To Get Upstate Past Clemson, 78-65
12/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2009
CLEMSON, S.C. - Junior Chelsea McMillan (East Gadsden, Fla./Santa Fe C.C.) posted a career-high 16 rebounds to go with a game-high 20 points and sophomore Lesley Daniel (Collinwood, Tenn./Collinwood) added career-highs of 14 points and five steals, but a 17-4 run that occupied much of the final eight minutes of the game helped Clemson sneak past a game USC Upstate women's basketball team, 78-65, on Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
McMillan was absolutely dominant on the big stage again, as she has averaged 14 points and 10.8 rebounds in four career games against the Southeastern Conference or the Atlantic Coast Conference. She tied her season high with 20 points and posted a career-high 16 rebounds, just the fourth 15-plus rebound performance by Upstate in the D-I era. McMillan also went a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line.
Upstate (5-3 overall) was hindered by 32.9 percent (25-for-76) shooting from the field while Clemson (7-4 overall) shot 43.7 percent (31-for-71) from the field. However, Upstate was able to stay in the game for a majority thanks to an aggressive defense that forced 24 Clemson turnovers.
"We had a bad stretch where we couldn't score, but overall, I am very pleased," Upstate head coach Tammy George said. "It's our first game back from a good break and I thought we competed. That's all we can really ask for. There was some concern because some of their guards were as big as our posts, but I am very pleased with our rebounding. It was good to see we competed with them in that area."
A jumper by McMillan gave Upstate a 51-46 lead with 11:42 left in the game, but Clemson was able to draw back into it as April Parker hit a layup and Jasmine Tate hit a free throw. An old-fashioned three-point play by Shaniqua Pauldo gave the Tigers a 52-51 lead with 9:12 left. Senior Courtney Hawkins (Greer, S.C./Greer) answered with a jumper in the paint and the teams traded the lead two more times before a 3-pointer by Lele Hardy (Spartanburg, S.C./Spartanburg) hit a 3-pointer with 8:25 left to make it 56-54 Clemson. McMillan tied the game with a layup but another jumper by Hardy with 7:32 left ignited a 6-0 Clemson run and Upstate was never able to get the lead back.
The Tigers used were able to control much of the final minutes thanks to Hardy, who hit two 3-pointers and scored 10 of her 13 points in the last nine minutes.
In the first half, Upstate was able to use an aggressive defense that forced 15 turnovers and led to 11 points off turnover. The two teams fought back and forth for much of the half, with neither team taking more than a seven-point lead and the lead changing eight times. Clemson took that seven-point advantage with 8:14 left in the half after a 3-pointer from Bryelle Smith. The two team exchanged buckets for much of the next four and a half minutes before two free throws from McMillan cut the Tiger advantage to five. Freshman Tee'Ara Copney (Asheville, N.C./T.C. Roberson) followed with a jumper and a free throw by sophomore Kendra Wallace (Hurricane, W.Va./Nitro) cut the lead to two at 32-30 with 2:53 left. A pair of free throws from Daniel tied the game at 32 with 2:32 left. After a Clemson free throw, a layup by Hawkins gave Upstate the lead and another by freshman Lauren McRoberts (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) gave Upstate a 36-33 advantage with 1:36 left. A Jasmine Tate layup with 37 seconds left sent Upstate to the locker room with a one-point lead.
Hawkins posted 12 points, her seventh double-figure performance of the year, to go with five rebounds, three steals and an assist. Senior Koko Richardson (Mary Esther, Fla./Santa Fe C.C.) added seven points and junior Shadae Thompson (Greenville, S.C./Greenville), in her first game as a Spartan, contributed six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Copney posted six points and four rebounds and McRoberts added five points and four rebounds.
Clemson was led by 14 points, nine rebounds and three steals from Pauldo while Hardy added 13 points and eight rebounds. Kirstyn Wright scored 11 and added two blocks and two steals and Jasmine Tate posted seven rebounds and 10 rebounds. The Tigers blocked 10 shots in the game and also added 15 steals.
The Spartans will get back on the court and head into the tail end of their four-game road trip by heading to Stetson for their Atlantic Sun Conference opener on Thursday at 7 p.m. Upstate will wrap up the swing with another A-Sun match at FGCU on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
"It was a close game against a very talented team," George said. "A good, close competitive game is what we need heading into conference play. It will get us ready and into that mode. It was also good to get one under our belts before we headed into conference play after the layoff."
Notes:
- The Spartans are 1-1 all-time on Dec. 15.
- Upstate is 0-5 all-time against ACC opponents ... Upstate held a halftime lead over an ACC school for the second time in school history, also taking a 25-22 lead into the half at Virginia Tech on Feb. 2, 2009, in a 68-62 overtime loss.
- Upstate is 8-3 in the D-I era against South Carolina non-conference opponents and 4-3 on the road.
- Senior Courtney Hawkins remains one trey away from becoming the fifth player in school history to reach 100 in a career.
- With her three steals at Clemson, senior Courtney Hawkins moved within four swipes of sixth in school history, where Joey Paugh (1989-93) sits with 169 career thefts.
- Sophomore Kendra Wallace's streak 14 straight games with a 3-pointer was snapped ... the stretch was the fifth-longest in school history.
