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Briefly Pep rally to feature men’s basketball The USC men’s basketball' team will be the focus of a pep rally at the Colonial Center to day, featuring head coach Dave Odom and team captain Mike Boynton. The pep rally will also include the band and cheerleaders and will be at the fountain in front of the Colonial Center. Attendees are advised to ar rive at 2:45 p.m. and the bas ketball team will show up at 3 p.m., when Odom and Boynton will speak. After the rally, the team will head off to Owens Field to catch a flight to Kansas City, Mo., for its NCAA Tournament First Round game against Memphis. Women’s golf takes 2nd in tournament Participating on their home turf at the University Club in Blythewood, the USC women’s golf team took second place in this past week’s Lady Gamecock Classic. Winning the tournament was North Carolina with a to tal final score of +41. The Gamecocks led the Tar Heels after the first 36 holes of the 54 hole tournament by five strokes, but UNC would battle back to claim a nine-shot vic tory to take home its first Lady Gamecock Classic Championship. The Tar Heels’ Ashley. Prange led from start to finish in the tournament, posting a final score of +3 to squeak by USC’s Adrienne Gautreaux by three strokes. This was the second consecutive runner-up finish for Gautreaux, as she took second at last week’s LSU/Cleveland Classic as well. Also posting top 20 finishes for USC was the duo of Erica Battle and Jenna Pearson. Battle tied for fifth place in the tournament with a final score of +10, while Pearson placed 15th with a score of+14. The fi nal two golfers competing in team competition for USC, Tiffany Catafygiotu and Kory Thompson, finished in a tie for 26th and a tie for tie for 55th re spectively. 11-year employee resigns from USC USC’s athletics department lost a long-time employee on Tuesday when 11-year employ ee Clyde Wrenn resigned from his position as assistant athlet ics director for high school re lations. USC said that Wrenn re signed to pursue other busi ness opportunities. Wrenn served as the recruiting coor dinator for USC’s football pro gram before entering his most recent position. He arrived at USC in 1993 after serving un der Danny Ford as the recruit ing coordinator at Clemson University. Wrenn’s name was men tioned in a scandal that in volved former S.C. Governor Jim Hodges and football re cruits. He was no longer to schedule or arrange prospect visits following the incident. --i—!—’——:v' ; i Softball CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 base, and an error by Arkansas catcher Shana Easley allowed Sandel to score and Crane to ad vance to third. Carolina couldn’t take advan tage of Crane’s spot on third, but continued to shut down the Lady Razorbacks’ bats and took the win. Senior Stacey Johnson pitched all seven innings to earn another victory, bumping her record up to 9-1. Johnson gave up one un earned run, five hits and one walk, which*was offset by her 10 strike outs on the game. USC 2, Arkansas 1 The Gamecocks had to go down to the wire to defeat Arkansas in the second game, but were able to pull it out again, thanks to Hall’s clutch performance in extra in nings. Arkansas scored its only run in the second inning, with an un earned run on an error by Smith. Lady Razorback Melissa Smith reached first on a single, but was tagged out on a fielder’s choice when designated player B.J. Southmayd hit a single in the next at-bat. Pinch runner Allie Benish came on in place of Southmayd and advanced to second off of a groundout by Easley before at tempting to steal third. Benish was able to steal third and scored on the following error. Up to the seventh inning, Arkansas pitcher Sarah Topham only gave up three hits and one walk. Then USC’s Smith hit a sin gle followed by Person, who pinch hit for Curtis and was walked. Things looked gloomy for Carolina after the Gamecocks’ Hall popped out and Hughes struck out, but Sandel walked up to the plate and singled to send in Smith and tie up the game. USC wasn’t able to score the winning run, though, leaving two players on base. Pitcher Melanie Henkes got rid of the Lady Razorbacks’ first three batters in order, allowing for Carolina to go to the bottom of the eighth with a chance to win. The Gamecocks took advantage of the opportunity, with Hall hit ting a single to drive in Crane for the win. The win was Henkes’ fourth victory of the season, putting her at 4-3 for the year, and gave USC head coach Joyce Compton her l,000th-career win. USC plays out the last game of the three-game series with Arkansas today at 4 p.m. at Beckham Field. The Gamecocks’ next series will be at home against Auburn on March 27. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Florida heads to tournament despite regular season turmoil BY EDDIE PELLS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GAINESVILLE, FLA. — One start ing guard didn’t think he was good enough to play this season. The only senior on the team went from starter to role player. Possibly the most versatile guy on the opening-day roster is now playing in Spain. At Florida, it’s safe to say the madness started well before March. Yet somehow, the Gators have withstood the turmoil and actually gotten better. By their own coach’s estimate, Florida has only three players ca pable of performing at the high lev el needed in the tournament. Still, fifth-seeded Florida (20-10) heads into the Thursday’s NCAA open er against Manhattan having gone 6-2 in its last eight games, with the only two losses coming to No. 2 Kentucky. “It’s a basketball team playing on emotion,” coach Billy Donovan said. “We were 14-8. Nobody knew what direction we were going. They swam to the raft, and they’re trying to pull themselves in.” Donovan has used the rather apt lifeboat-raft scenario to de scribe his team’s predicament since Feb. 18, the day swingman Christian Drejer shockingly left to play professional basketball in Europe. It’s the day that coincides with the beginning of Florida’s hot streak. And while Drejer’s loss surely did galvanize the Gators emotionally, it also de pleted them. Lee, Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh are Florida’s Big Three. They’ve accounted for 62 percent of the Gators’ points over the last eight games. Beyond that, there is sophomore Adrian Moss, an improving player in the post. There is senior center Bonell Colas, a starter at the beginning of the season who has since been moved to the bench. Most of the rest are freshmen, in cluding Lee Humphrey, a soft-spo ken Tennessee kid who went to Donovan early in the season and , asked him what he thought about the possibility of his sitting out the rest of the year and taking a red shirt. Turned out, that wasn’t possi ble, which might have been a good thing. After Drejer left, Humphrey was inserted in the starting line up. On Friday, he made an 18-foot shot at the buzzer to beat Alabama in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament. The latest mini-crisis involves Walsh’s foot. He spent time at the hospital Monday having a silicone sheath attached to the bottom of his foot to help heal a nasty blis ter that developed during the SEC tournament. Donovan said he’s confident Walsh will play Thursday, al though he doesn’t know how ef fective his second-leading scorer will be. ■1 i Congratulations to The Gamecock Basketball Sports Challenge Regular Season Champion Jonathan Hillyard 1. Asst. Sports Editor Jonathan Hillyard - (49-31) 2. Design Director Shawn Rourk - (48-32) 3(t). Sports Editor Wes Wolfe - (47-33) 3(t). Editor in Chief Adam Beam - (47-33) 3(t). Reader of the Week - (47-33) 6. Selected Staff Member - (40-40) HplKEiT... ■OURSELF! [B^p ae? Amrairafl Mmsme Code I council | Keep Your Spring CALLING ALL MINORITY WOMEN! -Meet new people I -Get in shape " -Win prizes 11 -Learn health tips 1 I -Become healthier | BEGINS: March 22nd ENDS: April 19th MHC wants to help improve physical fitness among minority women. For more information contact: i _ _ _ _ .... .. i Janet Vaughn @ 777-8288 or j Hea™ and WellneSSI I Holly Tyler 544-4451 [ ; Pr0gramS j