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Inside: Schedule USC volleyball signs four for2000 season, a Men’s golf at Mercedes-Benz . Intercollegiate, today-Tues. swimming teams compete at SEC Champi- _ ... , t a r r ■ Women s tennis vs. UNC, Tues. onships, women's tennis begins m Baseball vs. Campbell, Tues. ■ Men’s basketball vs. LSU, Wed. USC sweeps Delaware State in weekend series by Jeff Romig Special Correspondent USC 9, Delaware State 1 Friday he made his first appearance. Saturday he got his first hit. Sunday he received his first start in USC’s 9-1 win over Delaware State, be coming only the second freshman to start for Ray Tanner’s Gamecocks in 2000. The thing is, USC calcher/designat ed hitter Bo Mobley was told he might not be able to play baseball again. “I had a stress fracture of the tibia, which is of the knee joint itself,” Mob ley said. Mobley found out about his injury at die beginning of his senior year at Colum bus High School in Columbus, Ga., but played through the pain. When Mobley arrived at USC, he went ahead and had suigery so he would n’t play hurt for the rest of die year. “The doctors here said they didn’t think I’d ever play again,” Mobley said. Mobley then went back to Colum bus for a second opinion. “My doctor said, ‘Well, you have a good chance of IliUing again, but you prob ably won’t ever get to catch,’” Mobley said. His first plate appearance wasn’t how he’d envisioned it would be. “It was funny,” Mobley said. “The guy was throwing real slow and I was waiting for a hanging breaking ball and he threw it. It was right there, perfectly on line and it just never broke, so I just took it.” Mobley look first after being hit by the pilch and wailed for liis next chance. It would come Saturday in the bot tom of die eighth with two men on and one out. “I just went in there looking for a good pitch,” Mobley said. “It was there and I hit it hard.” Mobley’s frozen rope to left was good for a 2-run single. He wouldn’t have the same luck Sunday, as he went 0-for-3 in his first start at designated hitter, but Tan ner is excited about Mobley’s potential. “He’s a guy that we think has a tremendous upside as far as swinging the bat is concerned,” Tanner said. “His opportunities in college baseball are go ing to be swinging the bat. He does have a chance to be a tremendous hitter in col lege baseball.” Sunday’s Notes: Fust baseman Tripp Kel ly extended liis liitling streak to eight games with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was liis sixth home run in eight games... Brennan Dees went 3 for-4 with an RBI double... Clint Collins made his first appearance on the mound since 1998, pitching two innings and strik ing out four. USC 16, Delaware State 1 When USC opened its 2000 base ball season on Feb. 4 against Charleston Southern, Surge Frye Field was buzzing with the arrival of freshman shortstop Drew Meyer. After turning down the Los Angeles Dodgers six-figure offer to play profes sional baseball, Meyer went 1-for-17 to start his Gamecock career. Now, Meyer seems comfortable at the plate and is finding his groove. That comfort led his team Saturday as they defeated Delaware Stale 16-1 on the heels of a 4-for-5, 3 RBI game from Meyer. “I’ve been seeing the ball real well,” Meyer said. “I got robbed a lot in the be ginning of the year, so now I’m getting some of the hits back with infield singles. I'll take what I can get, and hopefully I’ll get some more of those.” USC head coach Ray Tanner laid no doubt that Meyer’s offense would come around. “You’ve heard me say it from day one,” Tanner said. “I’m not worried about him. He’s going to get his hits. He’s been playing hard. He’s been playing with en thusiasm and I’m happy for him that he Baseball see page m Chastain kicks off marathon by Elizabeth Rod Assistant Sports Editor She’s just like you and me, but she’s world-fa mous - famous for kicking the game-winning goal against China in the 1999 Women’s World Cup. She’s famous for speaking for the creation of “a place for women in sports.” She’s famous for baring her black sports bra on an international television broadcast, yet she stands for sometliing as simple as gender equality in sports. Soccer star Brandi Chastain visited USC Thurs day to endorse the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Feb. 26 in Columbia. With soccer as a backdrop, Chas tain is a spokesperson for participation and lead ership in female sports. ' Chastain insists the attention gained by taking off her shirt at the conclusion of the World Cup final is positive publicity for her cause. “For me it’s really nice that they remember that because that means they’ll identify that with women’s soccer and that’s ultimately what I’m af ter,” Chastain said. “To know that women’s sports is stuck somewhere in their mind is good.” Mainstream exposure in the World Cup tour nament inspired the U.S. Women’s Sbccer team to expand its influence. Chastain sees a bright future for women’s soccer as an international sport. “To know that forty million people watched the final is overwhelming and is something that we never actually dreamed would happen or could happen,” Chastain said. “Now it’s really just bro ken ground for what the future has to offer and we’re thrilled at the opportunity to build a pro fessional women’s soccer league.” Chastain has enjoyed many honors since the World Cup game last summer - she’s starred in TV commercials with other world-class athletes, thrown out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium and appeared on ESPN’s prestigious ESPY awards show, where slie took the stage with sports greats such as Michael Jordan and 'Vayne Gretzky. “These re the people you grow up admiring and looking ,.o and aspiring to be like and that they turn out to be such nice people on top of it real ly makes you feel good about what you’re doing as an athlete,” Chastain said. Chastain stresses the importance of positive role models in the everyday lives of young athletes. She hopes by winning the World Cup, more atten tion will be given to the value of adult examples. “With the kick of the ball they look to you for guidance and then the responsibility is quite awe some,” Chastain said. “But it’s actually a respon sibility we all share whether we’re a student, an athlete or whatever walk of life we’re in. We all have the ability to influence somebody. “I want you all to know that we’re all role models. Not because I play soccer but because I’m a human being in the human race and I want to make a difference in the community.” The Carolina Marathon Association will play host to the marathon this weekend in Columbia. Jacquelyn Poston Gamecock Sports Brandi Chastain signs an autograph at the Russell House on Feb. 17. Chastain was In Columbia to promote the U.S. Olympic Team Trials marathon Saturday. USC men's basketball rolls over Crimson Tide by Jeff Romig Special Correspondent Forty minutes of solid basketball. That’s what every college basket ball team strives for on a given night. Saturday, the USC basketball team was three-fourths of tlie way there as they crushed Alabama 82-61. “The last 30 minutes, I thought we played pretty darn good basketball,” said Eddie Fogler. USC head coach. The most telling statistic in USC’s victory was its turnover ratio - 22 as sists to live turnovers. “That’s incredible for a team," Lucas said. “When you’re playing at that level #11 you have games like that, most of the time, you should win.” No team under Eddie Fogler has ever turned over the ball less than his team did on Saturday. “I think, overall, we played extremely well tonight,” Lucas said. “We took care of the ball against a team that’s very ath letic. You have to be very careful out there with the passes that you m;ike and the de cisions that you make.” Fogler was extremely happy with his teiim’s play on Saturday. “Show me a le;im that hits 22 assists and five turnovers and I’ll show you a team that is in pretty good shape oll'en sively,” Fogler said. One wouldn’t have thought so if watching the first 10 minutes of basket ball. “I thought in the first 10 minutes, we took a number of bad shots,” Fogler said. “Quick, ill-advised threes that I did n’t like.” As USC settled down, the tlirees start ed to fall. For the game, they hit 21-of 31 from 3-point range, 7-of-17 in the sec ond half. Six different Gamecocks hit 3-point shots. Herbert Lee Davis and David Ross had three, Travis Kraft and Ivan Howell had two arch and Lucas and Jamel Bradley each hit one. “David Ross gave us a great lift,” Fogler said. “Travis Kraft - they both shot the ball well from three.” Chuck Edson had an all-around sol id game, despite going 0-for-7 from the Geld. “Eidson’s line is incredible,” Fogler said. The freshman finished with nine re bounds, eight assists, three steals and no turnovers. “You can’t say enough about Chuck,” Ross said. “He’s just agreat talent -agreat find for us. Hopefully, he’s going to do that for four years here.” Davis led the team in scoring with 15 points. Tony Kitchings pulled in 11 re bounds to go with his eight points. The Gamecocks face No. 23 LSU at Frank McGuire Arena Wednesday. Fogler knows it will take more than Saturday’s effort to defeat a tough Tiger team. “Wednesday, we’ll need 40 (minutes),” Fogler said. Alabama 11-13, 4-8 SEC TOT-FC 3-PT REBOUNDS No. . FG FGA FG FCA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO B S MIN 35 Erwin Dudley, f 3 10 0 0 0 1 3 10 13 4 6 2 3 1 1 35 05 Tank London, g 3 40 11 201 137 6 000 40 14 Terrance Meade, g 3 12 2 82 205 53 10 2200 32 20 Dor Martin, g 4 51 23 300 03 12 2200 32 21 Rod Crizzard,g 6 12 3 70 015 63 15 0211 27 04 Schea Cotton 1 70 16 702 2381300 19 11 DJ Towns 0 00 00 000 0000000 1 13 Solomon Davis 0 10 10 000 0000000 1 43 Sam Haginas 0 10 00 O 'OO 0100000 4 25 Jim Bakken 1 11 10 001 1032000 9 Team 2 0 2 Totals 21 53 7 21 12 15 6 24 30 20 61 15 2 2 200 South Carolina 11-14, 3-9 SEC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO B S MIN 14 Herbert Lee Davis, f 4 93 74 401 10 15 1001 25 50 Tony Kitchings, f 4 12 0 00 047 11 281210 25 12 Marius Petravicius. c 3 70 04 4 12 35 10 0100 19 10 Jamel Brad el y. g 1S1 70 000 0033000 1S 31 Chuck Eidson.g 0 70 52 218 9328013 33 00 David Ross 3 53 50 011 22 9 0000 16 04 Ivan Howell 2 22 20 000 0060000 1 05 Aaron Lucas 3 41 23 400 00 10 3000 16 15 Travis Kraft 3 32 20 020 2182000 10 20 Jo Jo Cadray 0 00 00 000 0101000 1 32 Calvin Clemmons 0 00 01 200 0010100 3 33 Damien Kinloch 2 30 00 023 5141000 16 35 Antonio Crant 3 60 10 120 2161100 16 24 Brian ScotL 0 10 00 010 1001000 1 Team 1 5 6 Totals 28 67 12 31 14 17 15 27 42 16 82 22 5 2 4 200 Women tame 'Cats on senior day by Kyle Almond Staff Writer The South Carolina Lady Game cocks took revenge on Sunday wlien they defeated Kentucky 64-51 at Frank McGuire Arena. USCU3-13.3-10SEC) lost to Ken tucky in Lexington earlier this season by two but they came out on lire at home, grabbed an early lead, and never looked back. It was Senior Day for Carolina, willt ^ee Lady Gamecock seniors, Annie Lester, Shanla Jeffcoat and Casie Key, being honored before game-time. Jeffcoat sparked the early lead for DSC, drilling two 3-pointers early in the game to give Carolina an 8-2 ad vantage. She added another 3-poinler in the lirst half, and USC shot 6-12 as a team from beyond the arc before half time, going in with a 30-27 lead. “[Jeflcoat] is a very calming factor for us offensively," said USC head coach Susan Walvius. “Defensively, she got the job done." Early in the second half, Lester took over where Jeflcoat left off, getting the tough inside points and extending the Carolina lead to seven. Lester, a two time All-SEC honoree, scored in double figures for the 72nd lime in her career, and she will graduate this season as on ly the eighth Lady Gamecock to score 1,000 points and pull down more than 700 rebounds. In each of the hist two games, Lester hits scored an SEC season-high 32 points. “Obviously, I have a great deal of re spect for Annie Lester," added coach Walvius. “She’s been a go-io player for us for three years and she’s carried our basketball team in many situations.” Lester and younger sister Jocelyn Penn put the dagger through the Lady Wildcats’ collective hearts late in the second half, leading a 11-0 run that put the game out of Kentucky’s reach. Penn ended up as the game’s high scorer, scor ing 16 points while grabbing seven re bounds. Walvius was pleased with the way the team followed the game plan. “We were poised offensively, and defensively, our game plan was to con tain their penetration,” said Walvius. “We were able to do a better job at keeping them away from the basket, and that’s what we were looking to defend.” ’’Women's see page B2 by Paul Mashack Staff Writer The USC softball team accomplished a rare feat Saturday at Beckham Field. In a doubleheader against Geoigia State, the Gamecocks threw consecutive no hit ters en route to a 6-0, 8-0 sweep. It marked the 33rd time in USC’s 27 years of softball that the team has reg istered a no-hitter. “1 felt strong out there,” sophomore pitcher Megan Matthews said. “I fell good after coming back from an injured ankle.” The win improved her record to 2-3 on the year. The Gamecocks were led offensive ly by cenlerfielder Megan Donohoo, ju nior shortstop Kendra McCutheon and second baseman Kim Schultze. McCutcheon went a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of runs batted in. Seniors Schultze and Donohoo com bined to go 4-for-6 with three RBIs and a run scored. In the second game of the twin bill, ju nior Joyce McMillin continued the USC pitching dominance with her second no hitter as a Gamecock. Last year, the junior threw a no-hilter against Iona. Saturday, she pitched five innir^s while striking out seven and walking two batters to complete 12 hitless innings. “We threw a great game,“said McMil lan, who evened her record to 1-1 for the season. “The catchers caught a great game and the defense did a great job behind me.” “We were able to keep our focus and play great in the second game,” Comp ton said. Offensively, McMillin and freshmen Jodi Fittrio were key contributors to the Gamecocks 8-0 route. Fittrio went 2-for 2 with an RBI and scored once. McMillin contributed with her sec ond home run of the year in the fourth inning. She finished the game with two runs batted in and two runs.