The Tiger

The Clemson Lady Tigers basketball team opened their 2008-2009 season against Furman University last Friday in Greenville. Going into this season, the program returned nine letterwinners and has six newcomers to the team. Clemson fell to the Lady Paladins, 82-68 last week in Furman's Timmons Arena. Clemson was unable to overcome a second half charge by Furman and were 0-1 for the season. Just two days later, the Lady Tigers redeemed themselves with a win to open their home season on Sunday, defeating Presbyterian 66-35 in Littlejohn Coliseum. On Friday, the Lady Tigers were led by leading scorer Lele Hardy, who had 19 points for the night. Teammates Kirsten Wright and Whitney Hood also contributed to the Lady Tiger effort, scoring 12 and 11 points, respectively. Down in the first half, Hardy started the 16-point run by Clemson to bring them closer to Furman. Hardy stole a pass from Furman and made the layup, but was fouled. She converted the free throws to bring the Lady Tigers to only seven points behind the Lady Paladins.

The gap was narrowed even more by efforts on defense with a steal from Wright. She put up two more points to cut Furman's lead to just three points with just over six minutes to go in the game. A technical foul disrupted the flow and the Paladins were able to increase their lead to eleven. The Lady Tigers were unable to catch them.

The Lady Paladins were 80 percent from the free throw line as the Lady Tigers were just 70 percent. In her first appearance, sophomore Jasmine Tate grabbed five offensive rebounds and three defensive rebounds.

The Lady Tigers looked for redemption on Sunday afternoon as they faced Presbyterian at home in Littlejohn Coliseum. Tate was instrumental in this game, as she scored six points during an 18-3 run at the end of the first half to score in double figures for the first time in her career. Hardy was high point scorer for the second game of the season with 13 points.

Clemson did better at the foul line on Sunday with just six fouls the entire game. Rebounds were another area where the team excelled, with 24 defensive rebounds for the game. With 19 steals, Presbyterian was forced to 30 turnovers. Off these turnovers, the Lady Tigers were able to score 33 points compared with just five points for the Lady Blue Devils. Up by five points in the first half, the Lady Tigers came out and increased the lead to 23 points with a layup from Wright. The Lady Blue Devils tried to fight back but were unable to keep hold of the ball. Bryelle Smith was a major contributor to the day's victory with 10 points, five steals and four rebounds. She scored the final points of the game and extended the lead by 31 points. The Lady Tigers will be back in action on Wednesday in Columbia as they take on arch-rival South Carolina. The Lady Gamecocks are coming off a loss against Penn State this past Sunday. The time for tip-off is set at 7 p.m.

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