Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Doyle leads C i <jamecocKs s r ?. By Brett L. Friedlander Sports Editor Over ^hcfi[ears, the Ivy League has become famous for its picturesque campuses and high standards of academics. More recently, it has acquired a new tradition ? winning basketball teams. Saturday, one of those teams brought their smart, defense-oriented style of play to the Carolina Coliseum and for a half, it looked as if they were going to come away with another win. But the USC Gamecocks rallied behind captain Mike Doyle in the second half and hit some key free throws down the stretch to claim a 70-60 victory over Columbia T 1*^*1 If iw /\f C 1 10 foWUftll f one UIUVC1 aitjr, in n uia ui uiujr j,no lamuui iauo. "They are a good basketball team from New York. They didn't come here in awe of us, they came to win," USC coach Frank McGuire said. "There is a discipline in the Ivy League that you don't see anywhere else. They got into their offense and stayed in it. Constant movement is their game." THE GAMECOCKS opened the game strong, jumping out to a quick 11-2 lead. But suddenly, Carolina went cold as they began to abandon the concepts of team play and allowed the Lions from New York City to battle back. Mid-way through the opening half, Columbia scored eight unanswered points to take the lead for the first time at 27-23. After the Gamecocks rallied to tie the score at 29, the Lions were able to pull away nitnin Af fhn intormicciAn Ihov hnlf) a fi\7A r?r?int Ogaill. 111 111V IlllVi 1UIOJ1WII, I.UVJ IIVIU 14 1 I * v J/VIIIV advantage. McGuire, obviously upset with his team's effort in the first half, gave his team a severe tongue-lashing during the break. The pep-talk helped USC in the second half as they seemed more inspired, and their shot selection became better. "I told them at halftime that the game was going back to New York by radio and I wanted to go back up there sometime without being embarrassed," the Irishman explained. "One good thing about us being behind at halftime, I knew I would find out if we had the guts to come back. We will need that down the line somewhere." THr rftMITHArK U/51C hv Hnvlp Thp fi-5 swingman from New York began diving for loose balls and playing good defense which caused several Lion turnovers. The Gamecocks outscored Columbia 16-6 at the start of the half to regain control of the Bench depth By Michelle Burchette starting unit or 1 Gamacock Staff Writer .Said. "We play< Anyone leaving the Lady line-up tonight a namw(v>lfe' hattlrnthall ffamp fnr n Hifforonf thinac few minutes Saturday night would trying to incres probably have seen new Carolina play on the perinr faces on the court when they According to returned. Head Coach Pam Parsons made H,, frequent substitut ions and played ; V-* r-V- ; her entire bench as she directed the Lady Gamecocks to a decisive 86-68 victory over the Lady Gobbiers of Virginia Tech. Parsons, who preaches team togetherness, was pleased with the wav hfr hpnnh rw>rfnrmpH n nr5 worked together. "I'm glad we're using the entire team to win," she said. One advantage the Lady Gamecocks obtain by frequently SfilflflPRSPQ calling on the bench is speed. By allowing players the chance to rest they are able to play at full strength and speed. "IT'S GOOD that we can sub- , stitute as freely as we have," BBbmBBt 'ia Freshman Sharon Rivers said. ."Whpn vnn'rfi At it fhprp \/ni 1 nan give, 100 percent because you know Bpjfe. ^ w% that when you're tired you can |j? come out and take a breather. Then when you shoot back in the game you can give 100 percent -\S again." Because Carolina has so much depth, Parsons has been working [HH|9hU\ on variations of line-ups. She has r tried combinations such as a big ft guard and a small guard, two tall guards, and even a three guard offense. rne nne-up cnanges win con- gmmp tinue, according to Parsons, until a five player squad that works well Fr**hm?n r together emerges. "We're still . 0 , shifting, trying to find the team n SBturaay s that will click best either in a Tech. Johns V';.' , Carolina attack luggish in win game. From there, Cedrick Hordges, who led USC with 19 points and center Jim Strickland took over as USC began playing the kind of ball they expected to play prior to the season. According to Doyle, the difference in the game was USC's switch from a zone to a man-to-man defense. He said that Columbia was forced to play the Gamecocks style of basketball in the second half instead of the other way around as it was in the opening period. "We have the personel to play man to-man the whole game," the team captain said. "It was a matter of guts. If we were to have played a zone today, it would have been playing their game. They are very intelligent and they would have held the ball on us." Another major factor in the victory was Carolina's free throw shooting. In the past, the Gamecocks have had problems at the line in crucial situations and it has cost them several ball games. But Saturday, this was not the case as USC sank 10 of 11 foul shots in the final minutes of the game to insure the outcome. FOR THE GAME, USC was 16 out of 21 from the linp fnr 7fi nprppnf far hpttpr than'thpir spason average. "I was real happy with the free throw shooting today," Doyle said. Last year they made the difference in a lot games. They helped us today, because when they fouled us, it usually meant two points." Doyle contributed 16 points and seven rebounds to the USC effort as they had four players score in double figures. Hordges, Strickland and point guard Kenny Reynolds all scored more than 10 points. Strickland had 13 points and 10 rebounds while Reynolds added 12 points and seven assists. McGuire was impressed with the play of the big center from Columbia, who had his best came of the season. Strickland, who has been sharing playing time this year with Jim Graziano, played 34 minutes and had three blocked shots. "I THOUGHT I played a pretty good game," Strickland said.-"At halftime I realized we ^re behind, so I did some soul-searching. I didn't warn to lose and that was a motivating force in itself." The Gamecocks are now 3-1 on the season and take on Kentucky, who is ranked third in the nation, tonight at 7:30 p.m. i i i^uuy VJ ater on," Parsons decision to implement more id a three guard perimeter shooting is based on nd we used some trying to draw the defensive ? because we're players away from the inside. "I ise our ability to thought our perimeter shooting leter." really came around this game," Rivers, Parsons' Rivers said. "We're going to need 4 $Wm ^ jB^k^ : jar. ^ pp" jmi;!' y^ ^^Bi?08? V velyn Johnson snares a rebound strong floor p r 86-68 victory over Virginia win. on's accurate shooting and Ik-L---?j.r.;":?t >????ja-ir> "' -; Kvlj 9 i;:::, jinB jBp,\l^M055 USC captain Mike Doyle ph Gamecocks 70-60 win over ( Doyle scored 16 points arid hi the contest. He made numeroi and also blocked two shots. iamecock more of it to bring those defensive players off of Sheila (Foster) and Cynthia (Jacobs) under the boards. That way we can get the ball into them." ANOTHER KEY to the Gamecock victory, according to t/ay helped Carolina to the solid ? mm JmJF i yvv^K-. .-yv^ f Dave Roback-GAMECOCK iys aggressive defense in the Columbia Saturday afternoon, lu/ed down seven rebounds in us diving p/ays for loose balls 4k :s to win Parsons, was defensive pressure. "I think our defense made the difference," Parsons said. "The pressure our guards were able to display is the key that helped us because that really startled Virginia Tech. They didn't expect that type of pressure." Parsons feels that continual substitutions and a changing defense helped keep Tech rattled and stopped their game before it ever got organized. "We kept them out of offense by using the onethree-one and the man-to-man," sne said. Despite good pressure defense, Rivers feels the Lady Gamecocks lack aggression. "On defense we're not being aggressive. We're not keeping them from getting the ball on the boards," she said. Offensively, several players scored in double figures for the Lady Gamecocks. Rita Johnson, who has seen only limited action this season, and freshman Evelyn Johnson both scored 15 points for Carolina, while Sheila Foster and Rivers added 12 points apiece. WHEN THE GAME started, nearly four minutes elapsed before Foster connected on a jump shot for the first Carolina basket. With 13 minutes remaining in the first half the Lady Gamecocks took the lead which they maintained throughout the contest. Wednesday the Lady Gamecocks will travel to Mississippi to viioucu^c uit* imiu^ ncut'iM ui uie Miss whom they lost to last season. In last year's match the Rebels employed fouling as an effective tactic against Carolina's poor free throw shooting. This year Parsons expects much of the same type of aggressive game and pressure defense.