The Clemson Tigers edged out Maine in a highly contested basketball game last Friday at the Cross Insurance Center. The Tigers, led by third-year Nelly Perry and second-year Danielle Edwards, edged out the Black Bears in the fourth quarter, winning the contest by a score of 69-61. The loss brings Maine down to a 3-5 record this season, while Clemson keeps their undefeated streak alive. They move up to 8-0 this year, the best start they have had since the 1998-1999 season.
Maine opened up the scoring with a layup from second-year Tanesha Sutton. Clemson responded with a seven-point run. Headed into the second, Maine found its largest lead of the game with a free-throw from first-year Julie Brosseau who increased the score to 25-18. First-year Laia Sole was instrumental in the first half for the Black Bears, picking up eight points off two layups and two jump shots.
Sole has scored 77 points this season, second only to Koizar. She leads all other players in assists.
From there, the game changed leads a total of eight times until Clemson took control in the fourth. Off a three-pointer from Perry, Clemson realized their largest lead of the game three minutes left in the game, with a 16-point lead. Perry went off with 21 points, shooting 5-14 on the court with three buckets from beyond the arc and eight free throws. Edwards, Perry’s scoring threat partner, assisted on nine of Perry’s points. Edwards went 7-14 on the court with three three-pointers and three free throws. Combined, Perry and Edwards scored 41 of Clemson’s 69 points with 10 of those points coming the fourth quarter.
Fourth-year Sigi Koizar had a career high 21 points, the first time she has ever had a 20 plus game with the Black Bears. Koizar had a 0.411 shooting percentage on the court, making seven field goals, three of them three-pointers. Koizar also went 2-2 on the free throw line. Koizar is Maine’s scoring leader with 116 points this season, average 14.5 points per game. If Koizar keeps up the pace she will be on track to be placed at No. 5 for all-time Maine scorers, a position currently held by Heather Ernest (2000-2004) with 1,804 points.
Koizar can attribute some of her success versus Clemson to first-year Blanca Millan, who assisted on six of Koizar’s points. In her 23 minutes of play, Millan made one three-pointer, assisted on four field goals, had three defensive rebounds and one block. Millan has tallied Maine’s third most points this season with 56.
Clemson looks to keep their winning streak alive as they move on to the Oregon Ducks (6-1) on Monday, Dec. 12 with a tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. Maine on the other hand continues their season with a game versus Northeastern University (2-6). Tip-off versus Northeastern is scheduled for Dec. 7 at 5:00 p.m.
