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14 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, January 28,2004 ~ _ . , , Game.Schedule < MEN'S BASKETBALL at Vanderbilt, 8 p.m. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at College of Charleston, 7 p.m. rnntart ie WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Davidson, 6 p.m. V^UI I la LA. Uo MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING vs. Alabama, Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? E-mail us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu ---- ... .... USC hopes win over Vandy will boost SEC lead I PHOTO BY TRICIA SHADWELL /THE GAMECOCK Guard Tre Kelley plays defense against LSU guard Tack Minor in Carolina’s victory over the Tigers Saturday. BY STEPHEN DEMEDIS THE GAMECOCK Ranked 24th in the latest AP poll, the USC men’s basketball team (17-2,4-1 SEC) will look to in crease their lead in the SEC East with a win over the Vanderbilt Commodores (13-3, 2-3) on Wednesday. The Gamecocks are coming off one of their most impressive wins of the season, as they came from behind to defeat LSU 61-55. It was Carolina’s fourth consecutive win in conference play but also one of their worst offensive perfor mances of the season. The team shot a humbling 38 percent from the floor and hit only one of 23 three-point attempts. The defense continued the trend of carrying the team, as it forced 14 steals and grabbed 16 defensive rebounds. Twenty-five points were created off the turnovers. Vandy is coming off its third straight loss after starting the sea son with 12 wins in a row. Its most recent loss came on the road against Arkansas, as the Commodores fell to the Razorbacks by a score of 71-63. Prior to the game, the team was ranked 22nd in the nation. With the loss, Vandy dropped out of the top 25 but is still undefeated at home. The Commodores’ success sits squarely on the shoulders of senior Matt Feige. The 6-foot, 10-inch for ward leads his team with points (288) and rebounds (87). In each of the three losses this season, Feige has been held below his season scoring average of 18 points per game. The Gamecocks will key in on shutting down Vanderbilt’s lead ing scorer. USC recently faced the task of defending power forward Jaime Lloreda in the LSU game. The Tigers’ star put up 19 points and 11 rebounds. Despite not shut ting down Lloreda, Carolina was able to put away LSU. In effect, the Gamecocks got a sneak preview of Vandy’s scoring machine, because Feige and Lloreda have very sim ilar playing styles. It will be up to Carolina’s front ' court, composed of center Rolando Howell, forward Carlos Powell, forward Kerbrell Brown and for ward Brandon Wallace, to learn from their last outing and control Feige. The Gamecocks have relied on a full court press that has been very successful in shutting down its opponents. Powell is coming off one of the best performances of his career. The junior from Florence, S.C. scored 12 points, had four steels and hit the only three-pointer of the game, which gave the Gamecocks the lead for good. Powell was also ♦ MEN’S, SEE PAGE 15 X Games capture true spirit of sport We as a society have become something of speed addicts. The • No. 1 spectator sport in the coun try is NASCAR racing; fast food restaurants are □ serving billions of people every day; the Internet has made cer tain aspects of life instanta neous; and it seems like no SHAWN one has time to ROURK talk unless they Second-year are hitting you journalism UP on instant student messenger or in an e-mail. So it comes as no surprise that the X Games are becoming more of a pop culture anchor in sports to day. Unlike the more prestigious yet boring Winter Olympics, the X Games offer the excitement of new things. You don’t see figure skaters jumping off the boards or doing dou ble back flips during competition to win gold medals in the Olympics. The whole idea behind the cul ture that is involved in the X Games is about doing new things, taking it to that proverbial “next level” that all athletes seemingly go into their sports to achieve. That next level is another.rea son the younger crowds in this country are tuning in to the games. It is a huge physical feat to watch a man twist a 250-pound motorcy cle upside down in mid-air and land it on a hill of solid ice. Less of a physical feat is my no-look face plant into pedestrian bridge late Sunday night; but nonetheless, it was my attempt to embrace the sport as well. There is also talk that the International Olympic Committee is looking into adopting sports like Snowboarder X, an event that pits racers snowboarding down a mountain in a race to the bottom as new Olympic events because of their popularity. This is a good move for the IOC to look at updating its events line up for this new generation of ath letes. The biggest story from the last Winter Olympics involved fig ure skating and a French judge. It doesn’t really make for good tele vision. Also, who better to represent* America and its younger genera tion than some snowboarder or motorcyclist with tattoos all over his or her body and a nose ring? Sounds like my kind of role mod el. The spotlight of the X Games and the like also turns these sul tans of speed into the 2004 version of James Dean, if he had been a lit tle grungier and talked with a weird California accent. The only thing I am surprised about is why it’s taking so long for the two events to be spliced togeth er like some weird Frankenstein project. Sadly, these “alternative” sports may never get the full credit they deserve on the global spec trum. But I do have good news: I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GE ICO. Daily Gamecock Recruiting News: Rivals.com is reporting that USC received a commitment on Sunday night from offensive lineman Evan Spanogians. Spanogians is from Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio, and marks the fifth offensive lineman to commit to USC. The Gamecocks are still waiting on decisions from All-American offensive linemen Leon Hart and James Thompson. USC received its 23rd commitment on Tuesday from two-star comerback Stoney Woodson. Woodson is one of the top athletes out of the Tampa, Fla., area and is a big commitment for the Gamecocks, considering they lost three comerbacks to graduation. Scouting the Enemy: In the SEC East, Vanderbilt has received two commitments since Monday. Those prospects include two-star defensive tackle Lamar Divens from Fayetteville, Tenn., and two-star receiver Sean Walker from Louisville, Ga. Moving across the Volunteer State, Tennessee received a commitment from thrge-star offensive lineman Cameron Mayo from Dalton, Ga. In the ACC, rival Ciemson received a commitment from two-star wide receiver Aaron Kelly from Marietta, Ga. Kelly caught 50 balls for over 950 yards in his senior season. ——-r Footba 11. Recru iti ng Quarterback from Tennessee chooses USC over SEC rival i BY JONATHAN HILLYARD THE GAMECOCK USC received a verbal com mitment last Thursday from quarterback Antonio Heffner from Memphis, Tenn. Heffner chose the Gamecocks over his three other top schools which were Kentucky, Memphis and Louisville. Heffner was asked after his visit to Kentucky this past week end if Coach Rich Brooks was able to change his mind. “No, sir,” he said. “I’m 100 percent Gamecock.” Heffner is rated a three-star prospect and is rated the 15th pro style quarterback in the nation'by rivals.com. He was the most high ly-touted quarterback in Tenn. this year. In his senior season at Melrose High School, Heffner led his team to an 11-2 record, passed for over 1,260 yards and was responsible for 19 touchdowns, 14 through the air and five on the run. In his junior season, Heffner passed for over 1,400 yards and was involved in 18 touchdowns. He received both All-City and All-Region awards in that sea son. “He’s got all the tools,” Melrose head coach Kedrick Ingram said in an interview with rivals.com. “He’s a good athlete. He has the size and feet. He’s got a really strong arm. He can throw it 65 yards, but he’s also accurate. “People who watch his film im mediately fall in love with the everything about it down there. I just felt at home.” Heffner should fit in with the new look in Carolina offense. The I-formation style that USC is rumored to go to will accommo date the versatility of Heffner well. The Gamecocks have already received a commitment from three-star quarterback Joe Joe Brown from Cordele, Georgia, and he and Heffner should be the only quarterbacks in the class. Last year’s recruiting class included oamma will dso re turn senior quartrbacks Dondial Pinkns and MikeRathe. Heffnr looks like le will most ikely be red-slirted to put some spac* be tweei him and Mtchell. Tte com mitnent of '• HefPer also figu*s to be a boost in USCs recruit ing >f team mat* wide re ceivr Corey Kizer. Kizer is also a tlree-star prospect who rivals.coa lists as the 33rd-best receiver pospect in the nation. “I know Corey really ikes it in Columbia, too,” Heffner aid. “I’m hoping he’ll come wit] me, but he’s got to make his own ecision.” USC head coach Lou Ioltz was scheduled to visit Hefner and Kizer on Sunday night. Comments on this story ??-mail gamecocksports@gwm.s.edu way ne inrows the deep out. That’s probably the hardest throw to make, and Antonio makes it look easy,” he said. Due to his speed, many schools were re cruiting Heffner at other posi tions, which turned out to be a positive for use. “They are re cruiting me strictly as a quarterback,” Heffner said. “I liked the players, the coaches, and quarterback Blake Mitctell and two-position standout lyvelle Newton, Every issue from now until National Signing Day on Feb. 6th, we will profile one USC football commitment. Then on Signing Day, we will have a complete overview of the new group of Gamecocks. Women aim to end 8-game losing streak Beleaguered Gamecocks make trip to Charleston with hopes of victory BY TERENCE WASHINGTON THE GAMECOCK Tonight the USC women’s bas ketball team (8-9,0-5 SEC) will try ' to end an eight-game losing streak at the College of Charleston (5-13, 3-9 Southern Conference). Last year’s game against the Cougars resulted in an 83-54 Gamecock win. The Gamecocks hope there will be a similar outcome in. tonight’s game, which is Carolina’s last non-conference game of the season. Carolina’s offense is more high-powered than Charleston’s, averaging 72.1 points per game to the Cougars’ 59.3 points. The Gamecocks’ shooting has fallen off in the second half in the past two games, but tonight might be the best time for USC to fix the second-half slump. C of C has been drastically outscored in the second half by its opponents, 652 518. . The Cougars are led by junior guard Patrice Bryant who is av eraging 13.7 points and 5.3 re bounds this season, leading her team in both categories. Bryant scored 10 points in last year’s match-up between the two teams. Junior guard Rachel King has also stepped up for the Cougars, averaging 9.1 points and 2.2 steals per game. Carolina guard Cristina Ciocan leads USC, averaging 13.8 points per game this season. Ciocan is only three assists away from breaking Carolina’s all-time record of 595, held by Mindy Ballou (1983-86), and she handed out 11 assists in last year’s win against the Cougars. Senior guard Kelly Morrone has been a consis tent scorer all season, and fresh man guard Lauren Simms has caught fire, averaging 13 points in the past five games. Right now, though, the Gamecocks’ focus is on ending the losing streak and re-estab lishing the team’s confidence. USC head coach Susan Walvius is looking for the team’s leaders to step up and take charge of the young team. After losing its first game this season, Carolina ran away with an eight-game winning streak before falling into its present stretch of eight losses. A win tonight against College of Charleston might spark another run. After beating the Cougars last season, the Gamecocks went 8-1 over the next nine games.^There will be nine games left in the regular season af ter tonight’s game. Both the Gamecocks and the Cougars are having troubles, and this game could be an important turning point for either team. Carolina is looking to rebound from a disappointing loss to SEC rival Kentucky. College of Charleston is coming off a loss to Georgia Southern, its third in a row. While both teams look to get back into the “wins” column, a victory here could boost Carolina’s confidence. Confidence is key heading into the rest of the SEC schedule, starting with No. 13 LSU in Baton Rouge, La. Sunday. The game against College of Charleston tips off tonight at 7 p.m. at Charleston’s Johnson Center. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu PHOTO BY TRICIA SHADWELL/THE ftMECOCK Guard Lauren Simms drives the ball up the court In Carolina's loss to Tennessee on Jan. 15. ,