After a Coretta Brown 3-pointer opened the scoring, the Tar Heels wasted no time attacking the paint. If anything, they were overeager, as early feeds from Leah Metcalf and Nikki Teasley sailed over Sutton's head.
Perhaps their eagerness to exploit the matchup of the 6-foot-6 sophomore against Clemson's Maggie Slosser (6-2) was due to the fact that Sutton missed UNC's Jan. 13 game at Clemson with a sprained right ankle.
Regardless, the Tar Heels soon settled down and Sutton finished the half with seven points.
Clemson managed to hold Sutton scoreless for the first six minutes of the second half, double- and triple-teaming her. But after Slosser picked up her fourth foul, the Tigers switched to a 1-3-1 zone and guarded Sutton with smaller players.
"We started getting the ball in to Candace from the top because they had the little girl in the back of their defense," said UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "They had the little short girl."
The two "little short girls" who primarily guarded Sutton in Slosser's absence were Krystal Scott and Marci Glenney, seven and 10 inches shorter than Sutton, respectively. Neither had much success.
"We had our only experienced player out most of the second half in foul trouble," said Clemson coach Jim Davis. "We're very thin inside. We didn't have an answer for Sutton."
Sutton was able to get the ball and either score or draw contact. She finished the game with 16 points, including a career-high 8-of-12 from the free-throw line.
When she wasn't scoring, she was kicking the ball out to wide-open guards, Brown in particular, who connected for 4 of her 6 3-pointers in the second half.
