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flamgrnrt w ! ^ ^ m' ? women beat State By Brett Friedlander Assistant Sports Editor The USC women's basketball team overcame a nine-point first half deficit with strong frontcourt play and a pressing defense to rout the S.C. State Lady Bulldogs Monday, 90-62. The win was the Gamecocks' first ever over their intrastate rivals from Orangeburg. Carolina started slowly and got behind on the hot shooting of State's Roberta Williams. State built a 21-12 lead with less than ten minutes left in the game. Williams led the Bulldogs with 24 points. After a time out, USC coach Pam Parsons sent her team back onto the court in a full-court press. The defensive change forced the Ri.li/4/vcto * Uiuiuugo IIIIV Ilkliliciuua LUl I1UVC1S and helped swing the momentum of the game in the Gamecocks favor. USC outscored State 30-7 over the rest of the half. "WE WERE A little bit slow getting started tonight," Parsons said after the game. "That's the problem with playing at 5:45. I don't like that time of day because us dinner time and we weren't quite ready to play ball. When we did get it going, we did it on the basis of a couple of steals. It's funny how important the mental game is." In the second half, USC continued to increase its lead with strong play from forwards Jean Walling and Katrina Anderson. However, overshadowing the play of the Gamecock's two big forwards was the performance of guaras mta jonnson and freshman Cheryl Autry. With their great speed and quickness, the guards were responsible for many of State's 34 turnovers. Between them, Johnson and Autry collected seven steals in the game, but more important to the Gamecock effort was the passing ability of the talented backcourt pair. EXCITING THE CROWD with her accurate passes, Autry constantly drove the lane to dump off passes at the last moment to either Walling or Anderson for easy baskets. Johnson was equally spectacular as she picked up a game-high total of six assists. Walling, who led the balanced ijramecock ettort witn zt> points, was impressed by the passing exhibition. "It's amazing," the 6-0 sophomore from Barnwell said. "They're (Johnson and Autry) so quick and it's still early in the season. They're still making some bad passes now that they won't m.n? ..till maivc inici in uic scawu. Altai nm help our inside game even more than it is now." Autry, a freshman from Rome, Ga., scored only two points in her Carolina Coliseum debut, but contributed much more than that with her leadership. Even though she showed some nervousness at the opening of the game, she handled the USC offense like a sesasoned veteran. See Lady, page 11 k ,/ 'A - ?* ' Jean Walling elu< USC ? Graziano i I ^HA 1 ''jyM ^Jgfl T; | - Hr les State's Robin W; muscles Kirk Mund: : WAH^^_ ^.; J.: _^:^-ri^-f ^xswHHI^nii s hxjii |jjj^ ' "311 ade (22) and Betty Sm r away from the basket m k ' bs J Jl 'v v v v . : V,. .. .. ; ' / Roback ? GAMECOCK iley . . . i^Wii'ii'' i> 'w;|^Hr' HHRPP^S;. :>v :. ^^B;1 ,'JpSk ^8* ?v? RotMick ? OAMBCOCK Graziano sparks Carolina By Mike Hunt Sports Editor When the Gamecock basketball tpnm hftfnn nrnrHrino fnr fhp 7A.7Q season, much was expected out of third-year starter Jim Graziano. Since his arrival at USC, coach Frank McGuire had said the 6-8 center was not the man to play center. McGuire said forward was i Graziano's natural position. So when Auburn transfer Cedrick Hordges moved into the pivot spot, much pressure was put on Graziano to perform well at the forward position. DURING THE first three games of the season, Graziano played as if he was being watched and judged by everyone. He would look to the bench after missing a shot or a rebound to see if another player was coming in to replace him. His sewing (5.7), rebounding (4) and playing time (62 minutes) were all being drastically reduced. But Monday night when USC beat Harvard 85-71, Graziano looked as if he gained back the confidence he seemed to have lacked earlier in the season. Scoring 21 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, the Farmingdale, N.Y., native bit seven of 11 shots from the floor and seven of nine from the line, even though he was snarmg the pivot position with Hordges. "I'M NOT saying it's about time, but the first three games were a little bit shaky. Maybe I needed a game like this," Graziano said. Hordges, who came into the Harvard game leading the Gamecocks with a 23.7 average, again paced Carolina with 26 points and 13 rebounds against the Crimson. "He's a very unselfish player," McGuire said. "He could have scored 40 tonight if he wanted to. He looked to help Jimmy out. He can do more for Jim Graziano than I can." Hordges and Graziano helped keep Harvard off the boards early in the game as the Crimson had no big man to match the power of the Carolina frontcourt. Switching from a zone to a manto-man defense, the Gamecocks forced Harvard to shoot from the outside. RHODES SCHOLAR Glenn Fine, Harvard's 5-10 noint ffnarH Icpnt USC guessing with his quarterbacking and shooting skills. He was the second leading scorer for the Crimson with 12 points. Bob Allen paced Harvard with 14 (mania. Harvard played a typical Ivy League basketball game. They passed and passed and passed until they found a suitable shot. As a result, the halftime score stood at See USC, page It