National Champion Gamecocks Too Much For Clemson, Audra Smith

Coach Audra Smith and the Clemson Women’s Basketball team welcomed a familiar foe on a local scale which is now in the national eye along with Connecticut, in Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks. 

The reigning National Champions rolled into Littlejohn and rolled out with a 66-36 win over the Lady Tigers. Coach Audra Smith called it, "a learning experience " and that Clemson will, "face teams of this caliber in the ACC."

While Clemson (2-1) offered free t-shirts, hot dogs, and drinks to a select number of fans to enter Littlejohn first, perhaps the biggest turnout came from The Gamecock Club. Filling four buses, nearly 200 fans in garnet and black made the trip to Littlejohn to support the (2-0) Lady Gamecocks.

It was only the third time in history that the Tigers have hosted the defending national champions in Littlejohn Coliseum. Previously, Clemson hosted 2006 National Champion Maryland on Jan. 25, 2007 and 1994 National Champion North Carolina on Jan. 14, 1995.

In the opening minutes, the Lady Tigers had the lead 4-2 over the fourth-ranked Gamecocks off a pair of jumpers from Kobi Thornton and Destiny Thomas. 

However, after a Dawn Staley timeout, the Gamecocks put together a 21-3 run to close out the first quarter.

Things didn't change in the second quarter as Staley's crew outscored the Tigers 14-4, taking a 37-11 lead to the break.

Kobi Thornton led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 6 of the team’s 11 first-half points.

In the second half, Clemson would never close the gap to less than 24 points. 

Penn State transfer redshirt-senior Lindsey Spann led the Gamecocks in scoring with 20 points, and All-American A’ja Wilson added 19 points with ten rebounds to notch a double-double en route to the 66-36 Gamecock victory.

Clemson’s next game is Sunday at 1:00 PM against Monmouth.