University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Clemson
No. 14 Tar Heels Outlast Tigers, 79-61
January 22, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2010
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Italee Lucas and Cetera DeGraffenreid responded when North Carolina found itself in a tight spot.
Lucas scored 20 points and DeGraffenreid added 12 to help No. 14 North Carolina beat Clemson 79-61 Friday night.
"Whenever it got really tight there, those two took over, which we need them to do," coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "They took charge when they needed to."
The Tar Heels (15-3, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) closed the game on a 23-4 run, sending the Tigers to their seventh loss in a row.
Lele Hardy scored 17 points on 7 of 23 shooting to lead Clemson (9-11, 0-4), which lost to the Tar Heels for the 15th consecutive time.
Clemson led 57-56 with seven minutes remaining in the game, but DeGraffenreid and Lucas scored eight points apiece down the stretch. The Tigers managed just a pair of layups the rest of the way. Clemson went scoreless for the game's final 4:10, missing all four of its shots and turning over the ball four times during that span as North Carolina scored the final 15 points.
"They made a great push, but I really felt like we lost a little bit of composure," Clemson coach Cristy McKinney said. "We made a couple of bad decisions, a couple of quick shots and turnovers, and they really exploited them.
"I think it was a team that knows how to win and expects to win against a team that's trying to figure that out."
The Tar Heels, who led 37-30 at halftime, extended their lead to 50-40 early in the second half. But the Tigers answered with a 12-1 run to go ahead 52-51, taking their first lead since they scored the first basket of the game.
DeGraffenreid, who last season scored all 10 of her points in the final 10 minutes to help North Carolina pull out an 83-74 win at Clemson, victimized the Tigers down the stretch again.
After Chay Shegog's turnaround jumper gave the Tar Heels a 58-57 lead, DeGraffenreid delivered a pair of coast-to-coast layups and two free throws. Then she assisted on a 3-pointer and layup by Lucas before making another layup to put the Tar Heels ahead 71-61 with 2:52 to play.
"I wasn't very happy that they went up by one with seven minutes to go," DeGraffenreid said. "I was like, 'It shouldn't be this close.' So I went in there, and the team got a lot of stops to help the fast break. It really came down to us playing defense to create our offense."
