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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, February 8, 2002 7 ^ m ^ GAME SCHEDULE InAATrmAm tto I B / \ I Bill ^ ’ BASEBALL vs. Charleston So., 3 p.m. Friday-Sunday LUNTACT US I—* I I I—< I SOFTBALL at FSU Tournament, Friday-Sunday 8 8 8 B \ 8 L MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m. Saturday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? | \ /|| Ik/ WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Clemson, 1 p.m. Saturday E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com -M- V- F\_/ WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at Kentucky, 2 p.m. Sunday GAMECOCK BASKETBALL \ omen edge Georgia Home-court victory gives women record for conference wins With a total of ^ nine steals, four more than the entire opposition, Jocelyn Penn had a strong defensive showing in Carolina's 64 59 win over Georgia Thursday night. “I love getting steals,” Penn said, “but I just wanted to play good defense, and If the steals ■ come, they come.” The win gave the no. Laay Gamecocks, 7-2 in the SEC, a record for conference wins. The women’s team is 19-3 overall, and another win would give the squad its first 20-wln season in more than a * decade. 9 Thursday night’s win was also the second over the No. 19 Lady Bulldogs this season. PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN Georgia 59 use 64 BY JAMES STARNES THE GAMECOCK The No. 11 Lady Gamecocks (19-3,7-2 SEC) set a new record for conference wins with a 64-59 de feat of the No. 19 Georgia Lady Bulldogs (15-7,4-6) last night at the Coliseum. Led by senior guard Shaunzinski Gortman’s 18 points and six rebounds, Carolina was able to move to within one game of its first 20-win season since the 1990-91 campaign. This marks the first time ever that Carolina has defeated Georgia twice in one sea son, and only the second time ever they’ve bettered the Lady Bulldogs in Columbia. uaronna Degan on a torrid pace, opening the game with 15-4 run and showcasing a tenacious defensive effort that forced 26 turnovers. Coupled with a re lentless attack on offense, Gortman and USC were able to display a “showtime” brand of basketball that has become vin tage Lady Gamecocks this year. Statistically, this was not the best showing for the USC offense, which shot only 41 percent from the field and recorded its second lowest total in assists (13) this sea son. The Lady Gamecocks were also outrebounded (36-26), but the rabid tempo set by USC proved to be too much for Georgia. Georgia head coach Andy Landers said: “We had too many turnovers and played poor de fense. They turned us over and we didn’t turn them over. That makes us have to work for every single point.” Carolina tied a season-high mark in steals with 17. Jocelyn Penn, normally the Lady Gamecocks’ go-to player on of fense, led the way defensively,* recording nine steals. “I love get ting steals,” Penn said, “hut I just wanted to play good defense and if the steals come, they come.” The Lady Gamecocks, who went into halftime with a 30-26 lead, had to withstand a 12-0 run by the Lady Bulldogs to begin the second half. Down 38-30 early in the second half, Carolina cranked up the pressure on defense. “The press was a big part of our success at Georgia; I was concerned with going to it too early because of our (lack of) depth,” USC head coach Susan Walvius said. “It was the reason we won the game.” Center Petra Ujhelyi added 12 points on five of eight shooting, while Christina Ciocan scored 12 of her own, dazzling the Lady Bulldog defense with a barrage oi niny iaKes ana no-iooK passes. This was Gortman’s night, however, and the senior was just happy to play her part in the win. “This has been a great year for our team, especially for the seniors,” Gortman said. “I’ll leave with a great memory of this season.” With 9:26 left to play, Gortman tied the game at 45 at the free throw line, the first time the game was tied since the opening mo ments of the second half. With 7:30 left, Ciocan made two free throws to give the Lady Gamecocks a 49-47 lead. They would not trail again. The Lady Gamecocks were once again without injured Teresa Geter. Geter missed her third straight game with a stress frac ture in her foot. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Men to face Vols - • at home BY CHRIS FOY THE (IAMECOCK The USC men’s basketball team (13-9, 3-6 SEC) will be trying to keep its postseason hopes alive to morrow night when it welcomes conference foe Tennessee (12-10,5 4) to Frank McGuire Arena The two teams met two weeks ago in Knoxville, when the Gamecocks drilled the Volunteers 94-60. USC head coach Dave Odom is reluctant, however, to write off the Volunteers. “We’ve got a Tennessee team coming in here that are playing as well as anybody in our league right now,” he said. “The way they hung in there during all the close losses early in the season has really made them come together. We just have to score more points, we are nav ing trouble scoring right now.” The Volunteers are most re cently coming off a huge win over No. 7 Kentucky, downing them Wednesday night in overtime 76 74. In the game, Marcus Haislip put up 25 points and scored the game-winner with 18 seconds left. • Tennessee is averaging 74 points per game this season. Vincent Yarbrough remains the team’s leader in scoring with 18.5 points per game, and in steals with 43. Yarbrough also leads the con ference in scoring. Haislip is sec ond on the team with 16 points per game. First-year coach Buzz Peterson is bringing his crew into Columbia with nothing more than revenge on their mind. “South Carolina really laid it on us last time we played them,” Peterson said. “Our guys remem ber that. So we’ve just got to go down there and play well.” Tipoff for tomorrow night’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail. com * Football recruiting class No. 7 in nation £ BY J. KEITH ALLEN m TUB GAMECOCK Everyone can identify the key dates in a football season: the home opener, the big conference match-up, and a possible bowl □ game. Many foot ball enthusiasts speculate that a non-descript week day in February is just as important as any of those fall weekends. The day, of course, is H<^tz National Signing Day. Wednesday af ternoon, high schools seniors across the country had to finalize ^ their decisions for the upcoming school year. USC Head Coach Lou Holtz called a press conference Wednesday at Williams-Bryce Stadium to discuss this year's in coming recruits. ESPN Recruiting expert Tom Lemming considers this group the best in South Carolina's history, and has ranked them as high as seventh in the na tion. Holtz spoke highly of his newest Lramecocus. "We have people who have po tential to be big playmakers on both offense and defense. The re ceivers can run, the running backs are talented." Coach Holtz also spoke of his ^ immediate obligation to his new troops. "Our responsibility starts now. When a family gives you their most prized possession, which is their child...we do not take that re sponsibility lightly." Holtz con tinued, "We have to make sure we do a tremendous job for those par ents." •Among Carolina's new recruits comes heavily scouted linebacker Roiberto Hurley. The Greenwood native punctuated his choice of USC over Florida with an elabo rate high school press conference on Wednesday. He held up a Florida jersey, only to remove his jacket at the last minute to reveal a black Carolina uniform, with the number 14 across the chest. Hurley was the number one ranked linebacker prospect in the nation according to Prep Star magazine. He finished his senior season with 82 tackles, five sacks, and three forced fumbles. Joining Hurley atop this year’s stellar recruiting class is South Carolina's "Mr. Football" award winner, Moe Thompson. The Goose Creek native was the first Low Country resident to take home the honor. Thompson was rated as the No. 5 tight end in the nation, and as the 15th best overall prospect in the entire country. Jeramine Harris, a transfer from Georgia Military College has also signed on with USC. Harris is the nephew of former Pittsburgh Steeler and Hall-of-Fame running back Franco Harris. The All American Defensive Back picked Carolina over Kentucky, among others. Coach Holtz feels that factors beyond a strong football program brought these prospects to Columbia. "They sensed a family atmosphere here. One mom said, 'I know I wanted my son to come to your school when we drove up to the hotel and your players were waiting there for us; the first thing they did was pick the luggage out of the trunk and carry it in."' Holtz and his staff sought out these high schoolers for reasons beyond their gridiron prowess. "Many of them were captains, many of them were class officers, many of them were leaders...We put a real emphasis on that." Coach Holtz concluded his brief ing with an overview of the pro gram, and his thoughts on the up coming Gamecock football season. "We have a wonderful attitude on this football team right now, if we can keep it going, we have a chance to be competitive." Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Baseball team begins season this weekend No. 8 Gamecocks prepare for sixth year under coach Ray Tanner BY LAWRENCE COLEMAN THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s baseball team will kick off its sixth season un der head coach Ray Tanner this weekend with high hopes. The Gamecocks should have plenty to be excited about this season be cause they’ve been projected to finish first in the SEC East and are ranked No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll. Many consider the Gamecocks a legitimate national title con tender, and Tanner likes his team’s chances in the upcoming campaign. “I like the maturity of the play ers and the experience of the pitching staff,” said Tanner, who was National Coach of the Year in 2000. “We’re going to play an older lineup, but there are some newcomers who lack experience in the Southeastern Conference. It’s important, because of the challenging schedule, to get off to a good start.” Carolina’s task will not be easy. Thirty-one of its 56 games will be against teams that quali fied for the NCAA Tournament the prior season, including Clemson. Carolina will play the Tigers on four separate occa sions. Two of the games will be at Sarge Frye Field, while the other two will be on the road at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Another crucial part of the Gamecocks’ season will be their series against defending SEC champion Georgia. Scoring wins against Georgia could land USC an SEC championship, and would be a great boost of confidence go ing into the postseason. Carolina brings back three se nior pitchers in its run for a na tional title: Chris Spigner, Gary Bell and Blake Taylor. These three notched a combined 22 wins last year. Junior Tony Adler and sophomore David Marchbanks will also be key components of the staff after securing eight victories last season. The experienced pitch ing staff should add great depth to the Gamecocks’ defense and will once again make them one of the premiere teams in college baseball. Sophomore Landon Powell will take over the duties as start “We’re going to play an older lineup, but there are some newcomers who lack experience in the Southeastern Conference.” RAY TANNER use BASEBALL HEAD COACH ing catcher. The lessons learned during his first season should help him to flourish in the vaunt ed Gamecocks batting order. Yaron Peters and Trey Dyson will split time at first base. Both infielders are seniors and would like nothing better than to cap off their college careers with stellar seasons. Shortstop Drew Meyer is a piv otal player and capable of having an All-American season. Meyer has batted over .300 in each of his previous two seasons. Tanner has high praise tor the player his teammates call “Franchise.” “He could emerge as the top collegiate shortstop in the country,” Tanner said. Garris Gonce is the lone re turning starter in the outfield and will play a vital role in the line up. Gonce batted .338 last year. The Gamecocks are aiming for excellence after compiling a Division I-leading total of 105 wins over the past two seasons. More importantly, Carolina is eyeing a berth in the College World Series, which it has just missed in those past two seasons. USC throws out the first pitch of the 2002 campaign today at 3 p.m., against Charleston Southern at Sarge Frye Field. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO BY AARON HARK Garris Gonce, 2002 captain and 2001 All-SEC, Is the the baseball team’s only returning starter in the outfield. Gonce batted .338 last year. The team plays their first game today.