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Today: Gamecock Sports previews the 2000 USC baseball sea son in a special insert Schedule ■ Baseball vs. Chas. Southern, 3 p.m. ■ Track at Milrose Games, NY, today ■ Baseball vs. Chas. Southern, Sat. ■ Men’s basketball at Kentucky, Sat. ■ Women’s basketball vs. Oie Miss, Sun. Pages ' %\lZ 03111 CCOCk Fr.day, February 4s 2000 mmmm ssSSe »«vmHKMwmia«gsm/SSSBSSKKMuaSSSmSSmI mm WSmmmK^mmmSSBmmsBBsmSmB^iS^mmSSmmSSSsSSSmm HII HH WmrnmaSBms^^l^BSSmsmmmmmmmKsmSBBSmm fflBmsmm SHMNwHSliMi Tigers slip past Lady Gamecocks by Shannon RGoke Assistant Sports Editor Many differences show up when comparing the past two games for the Lady Gamecock basketball team. Last time, Florida was the team, the place and the second half was the time when they came so close. This time, No. 13 Auburn was the team, home-court South Carolina was the place and the first half was their strong point. One thing, however, remains the same. It’s the same thing that has been constant for the last four matches. They lost. After getting out in front with an early lead, the Lady Game cocks fell behind the Tigers in the first half. USC rallied be hind freshman Kelly Morrone and turned Auburn’s nine-point point lead into a one point lead of their own. For the first time in three games, the Lady Gamecocks led the game heading into their locker room for a halftime talk. While the fans watched as all of the USC women’s sports teams were brought out in front of them to celebrate Nation al Women in Sports Day, the basketball team was figuring out what to do to hold onto their lead. It would be to no avail. Tasha Hamilton, who led her team with 18 points, brought out the Lady Tigers and began the second half with a 10-0 Auburn run. The Gamecocks, never coming closer than seven points for the rest of the game, would have to watch as the No. 5 team in the Southeastern Conference slipped by them 71-62. In the end, the Lady Gamecocks had some things to look at. The beginning of the second half being one of them. “The first five minutes in the second half is the most im portant part of the game, I believe,” said Morrone. “We came out a little softer than we should have and dug ourselves into a hole that we couldn’t get out of. We worked hard at the end of the game but we’ve got some more things to work on.” Carolina head coach Susan Walvius couldn’t agree more. “We came out into the second half a little tentative,” she saia. Ana tnat cost us tne oatt game. With star point-guard Shaunzinski Gort man out for the remainder of the season with a tom ACL, the women’s basketball team is looking towards their younger play ers to fill her shoes. “We definitely miss Shaun, she’s a big part of our team,” said Jocelyn Penn, w'ho had two points, five rebounds, and five steals on the night. “But we’re still going to go out there and play as a team.” When sophomore guard Crishna Hill was called upon by her coach to become the “emotional support” of the Gamecocks, she had no idea that it would lead her to the top of the statistics for the team. Hill came off the bench to score ten points and tally two rebounds for Carolina. “Crishna shot the ball really well for us tonight,’’said Morrone. “She stepped up a lot and without Shaun, it was appreciat ed.” Despite ending the game with 11 less rebounds than their SEC opponent, Y&lvius knew coming into the match that it was going to be something to consider. “We knew the keys to this game were keep them off the offensive boards, defend penetration and keep the ball out of their post player’s hands,” she said. “We did a good job in the first half with the offensive rebounds, but after that, we were playing catch-up ball.” On her players’ individual performances, Walvius was pleased with what she saw. “I felt that Kelly Morrone did a pretty decent job work ing to communicate and attempting to run the show,” she said. “Ines Ajanovic, you have to understand, is 6-fooi-3 and play ing on the outside. The more comfortable and experienced that Ines gets, the better that she is going to be.” With nine freshmen and sophomores on the team and the leadership of players such as Morrone and Gortman, fans can expect promising seasons in the near future. “Sometimes that inexperience that comes with such a young team shows itself,” said Walvius. “And it showed up tonight. We’re still trying to find a chemistry that works for us on the floor and some of that again is just youth. “They shot 51 or 52 percent on the game and, against a zone, that’s pretty good and many times we were double team ing the post on top of that.” Stepping up for the Lady Tigers with 15 points, eight as sists and two steals was 5-foot-9 senior Tiffany Krantz. Along side her and adding 15 points of her own was teammate Con swella Sparrow. With the win, the Lady Tigers increased their overall record to 184 and became 6-3 in the SEC. Auburn will now look to win their last six games which are all in the conference and will take them to the SEC playoffs. Looking down the road for the Gamecocks is yet another SEC match-up. Only this time, the team is Ole Miss, and they’re the on ly team below USC in the SEC standings. Mississippi is cur rently last in the conference with an 0-6 record. Tipoff is sched uled for 3 p.m., and Carolina will be looking to stop their four-game losing streak. Auburn 17-4, 5-3 SEC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO B S MIN 33 Shana Askew 3 71 41 211 2383401 31 43 Le'Coe Willingham 4 10 0 00 04 12 16 381121 35 45 Conswella Sparrow 6 10 0 03 663 93 15 0221 36 04 Tiffany Krantz 6 81 11 200 02 14 8302 25 40 Tasha Hamilton 6 10 0 16 10 30 31 18 3403 32 10 LaRita Spencer 1 51 40 000 0032200 15 13 Jackie Pugh 2 41 20 010 1250101 14 31 LaKeisha Johnson 0 00 00 000 0000000 3 34 Kris Bemath 0 00 00 000 0000100 5 44 Lori Nero 0 00 00 000 0000110 4 Team 2 5 7 Totals 28 54 4 12 11 20 17 21 38 14 71 17 19 5 9 200 South Carolina 11-10,1-7 SEC TOT-FG 3 FT REBOUNDS No. FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO B S MIN 34 Shannon Segres 5 11 0 03 500 03 13 0001 23 44 Annie Lester 2 60 01 232 5252200 28 00 Petra Ujhelyi 3 40 10 031 4362300 18 05 Ines Ajanovic 3 72 62 305 53 10 1200 26 10 Kelly Mormne 4 10 4 10 0 000 00 12 3103 38 11 Crishna Hill 4 72 40 011 21 10 1300 22 33 Casie Key 0 10 00 000 0000000 1 45 Jocelyn Penn 1 50 00 032 5324205 22 51 Shantajeffcoat 1 30 02 210 114 1300 15 55 Linda Hoglund 0 10 00 000 0101101 7 Team 2 3 5 Totals 23 55 8 21 8 12 13 14 27 17 62 15 20 010 200 Sean Rayford Gamecock Sports USC’s Shannon Segres, 34, drives on Auburn’s LaRita Spencer, 10, during Thursday’s 71-62 loss. The loss was the Gamecocks’ seventh SEC loss of the season, dropping them into 11th place. JNo end in sight as Honda hands USC 7th SEC loss by Shannon Rooke Assistant Sports Editor For the seventh time in a row, South Carolina fans sat on the edge of their seats as the men’s basketball team came from behind to lead against a ranked team. And as they filed out of Frank McGuire Arena on Wednesday night, their final thoughts equaled those of the past three weeks: we were so close. Sending their record to a strug gling 1-7 in the Southeastern Con ference and 9-12 overall, USC fell to No. 12 Florida 86-82 after a strong second half comeback attempt. “I am for the most part proud of what we did here today from the ef fort standpoint and the competition standpoint,” said Eddie Fogler, head coach of the Gamecocks. “They are an excellent basketball team. They play basketball well and when they score, it’s pretty.” Before a crowd of almost 10,000 fans, Carolina jumped off to an early lead with a 7-0 run to open the game. The Gators, who were going for their first three-game road-win ning streak in eight years, would not have a chance to lead until five min utes had left the clock. Then came 5-foot-10 Florida guard Teddy Dupay. The sophomore from Fort My ers, Fla., scored a season high with 20 points and hit five of his team’s 10 3-point attempts. Dupay was also six-for-10 from field goal range and 100 percent from the free throw line. Down by five at the halfway mark, the Gamecocks rallied be hind the offensive efforts of lead ing scorer Jamel Bradlev and tied the game at 62 with 9:21 left to play in the second half. The lead of the game would jump between the two teams for the remainder of the game before finally coming to rest with the Gators. Florida for ward Matt Bonner sank a 3 point shot with 35 seconds on the clock, sending Carolina in to an eight-point hole that it would not dig out of. With all of the 3-point ac tion coming from Florida, it was no doubt that 19-game starter Aaron Lucas was missed on the USC court. Lucas, who was averaging 7.3 points per game and was also ranked fourth in the SEC in assists'; is currently out of action with a fractured right hand that he re ceived in a tough loss to Vander bilt on Jan. 26th. Forced to try to fill Lucas’ shoes, Fogler looked towards his younger players. Freshman Chuck Eidson came off the bench to start and play 35 minutes. “We don’t have Lucas,” Fogler said. “And in fairness to Eidson, he got fatigued. With playing point guard as many minutes as he has against their play and their press he is fatigued.” Junior David Ross also landed; starting position and was pleasec with being able to help. “That’s what me and Jamel wen called upon to do,” said Ross, whc totaled 11 points, five rebounds, anc one block. “To give a little spurt ofl the bench. Especially because Aaron is out right now, someone is defi Men’s seepages Florida 16-4, 5-2 SEC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO B S MIN 00 Brent Wright, f 0 10 00 031 4302311 16 25 Major Parker, f 0 00 01 200 0311100 6 50 Udonis Haslem, c 4 80 04 542 63 12 1211 24 05 Teddy Dupay, g 6 10 5 7 3 3 0 3 3 2 20 2 3 0 1 35 13 Mike Miller, g 2 90 25 744 8196200 33 04 Donnell Harvey 2 50 06 922 42 10 1012 26 10 Brett Nelson 1 21 10 000 0433200 7 12 Justin Hamilton 2 20 00 001 1340101 9 15 Matt Bonner 2 40 01 112 3350201 14 52 Kenyan Weaks 8 12 4 7 2 2 2 1 3 1 22 2 0 0 1 30 Team 14 5 Totals 27 53 10 17 22 29 17 20 37 26 8618 17 3 8 200 South Carolina 9-12,1-7 SEC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO B S MIN 00 David Ross, I 4 11 3 10 0 023 51 11 1110 21 33 Damien Kinloch, f 1 40 02 221 3441101 20 12 Marius Petravicius, c 4 70 03 332 55 11 0100 13 14 Herbert Lee Davis, g 1 10 0 21 212 3132012 32 31 Chuck Eidson, g 1 70 24 511 2467602 34 10 Jamel Bradley 5 84 75 501 11 19 0001 23 15 Travis Kraft 2 42 42 210 1281000 9 32 Calvin Clemmons 1 20 02 422 4240100 10 35 Antonio Grant 3 61 21 320 2084101 23 50Tony Kitchings 3 40 £2 210 1580002 15 Team 3 14 Totals 25 63 10 27 22 28 18 13 31 25 8216 11 2 9 200 I_—_2S_— ■ ___1_»J Sean llayford Gamecock Sporis USC’s Damien Kinloch, 33, goes up for a rebound while Florida's Udonis Haslem tries to stop him Wednesday. The Gamecocks lost their seventh straiaht aame. 86-82.