St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (November 26, 2022) – Wrapping up their stay at the Paradise Jam at St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks faced off with their third Power Five opponent in as many days and fifth of the season.
Falling behind by as much as 14 in the opening quarter, the Lumberjacks (3-5, 0-0 Big Sky) battled back to trail Clemson (4-3, 0-0 ACC) by just two late in the second quarter. However, the Tigers built their lead back up to double-digits less than five minutes after the break en route to an 80-62 victory Saturday night.
Trailing Clemson 22-8 with just 1:37 remaining in the opening quarter, Northern Arizona began to climb back with a 16-4 run starting with three points for
Nyah Moran to close out the first.
Emily Rodabaugh,
Regan Schenck and
Mary McMorris combined for Northern Arizona's next 10 points as Clemson managed just four points for more than eight minutes of play while committing seven turnovers.
Nearly two minutes after McMorris cut it to 26-22 with a putback of her own miss,
Fatoumata Jaiteh brought Northern Arizona within two on a pair of free throws.
While Clemson finally snapped its scoreless stretch with a jumper and free throws from Ruby Whitehorn,
Nyah Moran answered back with a floating jumper in the paint and McMorris added another pair of free throws to keep the score at 32-30.
Whitehorn, who scored 10 of Clemson's 14 points in the second quarter, put in another backet that
Sophie Glancey answered with a second-chance layup just 1:17 before halftime. While the Lumberjacks played even with the Tigers during the back-and-forth stretch, Northern Arizona never could break through for a lead. Clemson put in four quick points to close out the half, entering halftime leading 36-30, and expanded the lead to 48-37 midway through the third.
Whitehorn scored another 11 points in the third quarter as Clemson outscored Northern Arizona 25-13 to take control of the game. The freshman led all scorers with 29 points in the game while shooting 12-of-16 from the field.
Glancey paced the Lumberjacks with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, including 14 on a perfect 5-of-5 in the second half.
Montana Oltrogge was the only other Lumberjack to reach double-digits at 10 points while matching Glancey with a team-high five rebounds.
After hitting 10 three-pointers in each of the first two games of the tournament, Northern Arizona connected on 3-of-22 against Clemson. Coupled with 23 turnovers leading to 25 points for the Tigers, the Lumberjacks struggled to keep up against the pressure they faced. Forcing seven turnovers in the first quarter, Clemson set the tone against Northern Arizona and finished the first 10 minutes with a 10-2 scoring advantage off turnovers and an 18-2 advantage in the paint.
Wrapping up the Reef Tournament of the Paradise Jam, Northern Arizona will return to Flagstaff to rest ahead of next weekend's matchup with former Big Sky Conference opponent Southern Utah. The teams will tip off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3 in Rolle Activity Center.
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