Inside the Game: The Lady Bulldogs hit the road for the final road trip of 2014 when they head to Clemson, S.C. to take on Clemson University at 2 p.m. on Sunday. SC State posted a 55-52 win over Jacksonville State on Tuesday to improve to 7-3 on the season.
Kourtney Williams dropped in 14 points, while
Jasmine Coleman had 10 points and a game-high three blocks. Williams, Coleman and Toni each had five rebounds.
Clemson is 5-5 on the season entering Friday's game against Longwood. The Tigers are coming off back-to-back wins over Tennessee Tech (76-61) and North Dakota (72-67). Nikki Dixon leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 15.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. As a team, Clemson is averaging 64.4 points per game while allowing opponents to score 72.4 points per game.
Game Coverage: Live stats and a free video stream of the game are available at
www.ClemsonTigers.com.
Last Meeting: The two teams met last season (Dec. 14, 2013) with Clemson defeating SC State 88-46 at Littlejohn Coliseum. Kelly Gramlich came off the bench to hit a school-record eight 3-pointers and 24 points to lead Clemson. Nyilah Jamison-Myers finished with 17 points, while Nikki Dixon and Chancie Dunn added 12 points each. For SC State,
Mykala Jones had a team-high 18 points and
Kourtney Williams added 10.
Block Party: Junior forward
Jasmine Coleman has been a welcomed defensive presence for the Lady Bulldogs in the last three games. She grabbed a combined 17 rebounds and blocked 11 shots in her last three outings. She set her career-high in blocked shots with four on her birthday in the loss at UNCG. She repeated the performance in the next game with four blocks against Alabama A&M. On the season she is averaging 5.8 rebounds, 5.1 points, 1.9 steals and 1.7 blocks per game.
Howard Earns Weekly Honor: This past Monday, junior guard
Amber Howard was named the College Sports Madness Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Week for her exceptional performance during the past week's action. College Sports Madness identifies the players who have had the greatest impact to their team from each conference and on a national basis each Monday.
In three games last week, Howard averaged 13.3 points and 3.3 assists to help the Lady Bulldogs go 2-1. In the 69-62 win over Alabama A&M, she scored a career-high 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, including 7-of-9 from the 3-point line, and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line with three rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes.
Looking Ahead: The Lady Bulldogs have just two more non-conference matchups for the 2014-15 season. They host the College of Charleston in a 4 p.m. game on Dec. 28 and then welcome Furman to the S-H-M Memorial Center on Jan. 4 for a 4 p.m. contest. SC State resumes MEAC play on Jan. 10 and 12 with games at North Carolina Central (2 p.m.) and at North Carolina A&T (5:30 p.m.).
