Nnamaka and Higgs lead Jackets over Tigers
By Marcel Williams/ Student Publications
Junior guard Stephanie Higgs shoots over Clemson's Amanda Frist. Higgs scored 18 points, second only to Chioma Nnamaka with 22.
The Lady Jackets (13-7, 2-5 ACC) hosted ACC rival Clemson (8-13, 2-5 ACC) Sunday as the Jackets prevailed over the Tigers 83-64. The Jackets looked to bounce back from a tough 79-71 loss at No. 6 Maryland on Thursday. Clemson won the previous meeting on January 8, 72-63 at Clemson.
Solid defense and good rebounding helped propel the Jackets to the win. Coach MaChelle Joseph has emphasized defense and rebounding all season, and the stats show the result of the team's hard work.
"All year long we've been leading the league in all the defensive categories and in the rebounding categories," Joseph said. "We're trying to build this program on rebounding and defense. As long as we do those two thing well, we will have a chance to win."
The Jackets out rebounded the Tigers 47-25. The Jackets capitalized with many offensive rebounds, scoring 21 second-chance points on 22 offensive rebounds. Janie Mitchell led Tech with 11 rebounds, with three other Tech players rebounding six each.
Joseph mentioned the strength of schedule as being another benefit to the team's play.
"We've worked on [rebounding] all year long, but I think the big thing that helped this team is that we played three of the top six teams in the nation in the past 12 days," Joseph said.
The Jackets lost to No. 6 Maryland 79-71 and lost to No. 4 North Carolina 85-56.
"I told the kids you get better or you get worse, and we definitely got better from playing those teams," Joseph said.
The Jacket offense put up great numbers as well. The 83 points against Clemson was the most points in a game for the team since January 2004.
Chimoa Nnamaka led the Jackets with a season-high 22 points, with Stephanie Higgs earning 18 points. Freshman April Phillips also earned a career-high mark of 14 points, while also pulling in five rebounds. "I thought April Phillips stepped up big, and made some big plays inside," Joseph said.
Tech jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead over Clemson, and by the nine-minute mark in the first half they held a 29-18 lead. Tech continued to play well in the first half, using rebounding and good defense to extend their lead to 47-25 by halftime. In the first half the Jackets out-rebounded the Tigers 25-10 while holding their offense to only 39 percent shooting from the field. Higgs and Nnamaka added 16 and 13 points, respectively, before the first half was over.
The second half saw Tech keep up the good defensive play as they out-rebounded the Tigers 22-10. Clemson managed to chip the lead down to 16 with 16 minutes left in the game, but a 23-11 Tech run pushed the score out to Tech's largest lead of 28 points. Tech held on, eventually winning by a margin of 19 points. With the win, Tech moves to 13-7 overall and 2-5 in conference play.
Clemson marks the first game of a three-game home stand for Tech. Yesterday, the Jackets hosted Florida State, but the results weren't available by deadline.
"I'm going to get to work to try to figure out a defensive game plan to stop them. [Florida State is] a unique team, because they play four guards the entire game," Joseph said.
The last game of the home stand is against the undefeated No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels at Alexander-Memorial Coliseum on Sunday at 7 p.m. "We're excited about this opportunity," Joseph said, about the three-game home series.
