Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

I ? I Who's n By Michelle Burchett H Gamocock Stuff Writer NORFOLK, Va. ? Ask someone one women's basketball team in tl they'll tell you it's Old Dominion. A Gamecocks, and they'll agree. ? For their match against ODU Ci ? ready to confront a top ranked te H a loud opposing crowd. Ready to i team their coach helped to build fc they were not quite ready to win. P however, the Lady Gamecocks wen And learn they did. THE DEFENDING national Carolina an 81-56 loss Wednesd Dominion Arena, but the Lady Gs what the ingredients of a numbers saw the recipe take shape on the coi Matching up against nationally Nancy Leiberman, Ail-American Ir freshman Anne Donovan, Carolina from the opening buzzer. The Lady Gamecocks watched C unanswered points before Sheila throw to put Carolina on the boari Monarchs hit for six more points to lead. ATM T it wtrspnc wlhj s margin, ine game players and fans knew it and so c coach Marianne Stanley and her pulled within seven points, but t game slowly slip out of their control THEY NEVER QUIT but Dominion never had a dry spot," c< said. "1 just hoped we could find 01 for more than a minute. If they fo spots, we might have been able to i doesn't matterif it's 10 or 20, we v ballgame." Following a bleak first half whi caromed off the backboard and i blocked by 6-5 forward Nissen and h Kenny I Point guard Kenny Reynolds puts against South Carolina State. - 2? * r"?j?L ist ask Old Domini sally mum te Donovan, USC play One of the most i who the number- from the confronta le country is, and to work toward. " sk one of the Lady number-one team i we have somethin irolina was ready understood. Andw< am. Ready to face explained. "We wa go up against the to what number-on ur years ago. But but we're coming a flore importantly, e? ready to learn. DESPITE THE of Old Dominion Parsons does not b champions dealt power of ODU until ay night at Old "This year I exp imecocks learned show all the thing one team are and players never real irt. was. They'd never renowned guard until tonight," she I0O Niccan onH C O ronloonc nwrvnt.!nn/i tuoovii aiiu U'U i vpiav^o ^Ap^i ICIIL had its hands full Despite the scor overly disappointe )DU run off eight Freshman Evelyn Foster hit a free Autry led the Care d. Then the Lady side with 16 and 12 jump out to a 14-1 Foster pulled down ODU's Nissen lec wasn't over. USC and pulled down 1 lid Old Dominion grabbed 15 off the h bench. Carolina advantage, the ta hen watched the inside and outside Lady Gamecocks. thpn flaain niH n noiuiMin ~ V/ Mill 1 tVJ >ach Pam Parsons played the inside g le that would last game. They're ver ad had some dry emotional mental ? come back, but it like they have a < vere never in the better," Parsons s basket in the first ere outside shots another game," P nside shots were the learning." er 6-8 counterpart Reynolds: up a shot in a game earlier this season on I bcr one? I ed a tighter game. mportant things her team learned * tion, according to Parsons, is what I You need to know how good that I s. That's how goals are set. I think I g to respect now that we never I e know what to work for," Parsons ? nted to find out how close we were 1 e is, and we're a long ways from it, ^ long." Lady Gamecocks' 73-49 trouncing j-U last vear at Carolina Cnliepnm - elieve her team had seen the true Wednesday night. ected Old Dominion to be able to s they didn't show last year. My ly knew how good Old Dominion experienced how good ODU was explained. "There's nothing that e." e of the match, Parsons was not d with her team's performance. Johnson and soDhomore Chervl >lina scoring attack from the out- j| ! points respectively, while Sheila I 11 rebounds. i the overall scoring with 22 points I .0 rebounds while Anne Donovan I oards. Using their extreme height I 11 women scored from both the I , shooting over the heads of the >N played super basketball. They ] ;ame, and they played the outside -g *y strong. I think the game is an $ jame with women, and if they feel & chance, then their shooting goes ? iaid. "We didn't even look at the I half ? I thought we were playing * arsons joked. "But, that's part of See Old Dominion, page II 'a real /e< By WHIie T. Smith III Gamocock Staff Writer "Come on now, let's go ... way to go Strick ... get your hands up and play defense ... shoot it Ced, all right!" Anyone who has been to a L'SC basketball game this year has heard these sounds over and over. They all come from the ' nmu nnf Kin nAiirf vjaiu^v,v/vao utw vii iuv. v.uui l leader, Kenny Reynolds. The Gamecocks were struggling in the early part of the season, and the problem seemed to center around the point guard position. Everyone was given an opportunity to play the position, but no one really fit in . Then Reynolds got his chance. KENNY HAS BECOME a real i j t it 4 m ? ieauer ior us on 'lie couri, semui forward Cedrie Hordges said. "He's filling a role that we need badly." There has been a resurgence in the game of Jim Strickland lately, and this is also attributed to Reynolds. "Kenny keeps me going out there. He doesn't let me fall asleep," Strickland said. "He's constantly talking to me and telling little jokes. When I mess up, he doesn't yell at me. He usually just pats me on the back and tells me he'll catch me next time down court." "I don't know why I get so excited when 1 get on the court, except for the fact that sitting on the 1 L. V ?_1 1^-1 Dencn i couia see we neeaea something," Reynolds said. "I knew we had the players, but they needed a fire lit under them. That's what I'm trying to do now." THE BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT in Reynolds' game this season has been his shooting. "When I came here I didn't really look for the shot that often because I didri't consider myself a good shooter," Reynolds said. "In the off-season I spend at least an hour r j -a y -r vr1 K I g^Mll ' ,y .V WF% 1? ^nBA^JB^9HH|S- JMBSB^BIBHBK: :-jflh Lady Gamecock center Cynthia Jai contest earlier this season. Jacobs was Anne Donovan when the two teams mei ader on tl on my shooting every day. For a while it didn't look like it was doing much good, but now I can see it hoc Tf rumnln hnnr?n iir\ nn Ki fT lino. II pvupiv I7V4I1V.I1 up V/ll lliv. Ul^ men or double team Mike or Zam, I'll take the shot." This point was demonstrated in the Gamecocks' meeting with Auburn-Montgomery earlier in the season. With three seconds left Reynolds hit a 22-foot jumpshot to give USC a one point victory. "We wanted to get the ball to either Cedrick or Mike, but they were guarded closely, so Reynolds took it and put it through," coach Frank McGuire said. "He is excellent underpressure." "The thing I like most about Kenny is his ability to get everyone into the act on offense," senior forward Tommy Wimbush said. "Earlier in the season I felt as if I was being neglected. I knew I could score if I could just get the ball. This, to me, is the best part of his game." Reynolds has also drawn praise from opposing coaches. "We knew Hordges and Doyle would be tough, but that Reynolds really killed us tonight," Marshall head coach Bob Zuffelato said. ''He must have had 15 assists. He shot the ball well, too." "REYNOLDS WAS THE key for them tonight," S.C. State head coach Tim Autry said after a one point loss to Carolina. "He's the kind of player every coach wants. I call him a clutch ballplayer." As far as Reynolds stay at USC goes, he says that he has enjoyed most of it. "I've had my ups and downs here as every student probably has, but I've enjoyed it," Reynolds said. "I've met a lot of nice people. The people are really friendly down here, and I've been able to get along with everyone." On the negative side Reynolds said he doesn't believe he has been used as much as he should "Earlier in my career I thought I should have been used more, but I KB 1 A fXf^B ^BgL 9 Bfrfr ifjnr .r J iSi^H * WnHfllflillH&iiHdBl^^^bfe wm? 7. i|W?g|M^|lBL-.$9** -r 8%*,*?:';^^Bii t" ^MrellliilBHL' v? i. x " w - ^yv-ff_'-" Jl * '- -* / 'SpS-'t 'fyi; ^ kl \m\ M1 \, h ^ ^ ? a* HHHHHHHHHHBHB c :obs dribbles inside during a home ! matched against ODU's 6-8 center r in Virginia, Wednesday night. ie court' guess most players feel that way. There were even times this vear when I thought I should have been in there more than I was. but that's over now. I just want to play ball." When he leaves USC Reynolds says he'll miss a couple of things most. "I think I'll miss the basketball more than anything. It's been in my blood for so long. I can't even imagine how it will be not playing," Reynolds said "I'll also miss the traveling I love to travel and meet new people. It's a great experience." When the season is over Reynolds has two goals. "I just want tr> ffradnatp and trv to find a good job, just like every other college student." He also said that he hasn't given up on basketball completely. "If someone would like to give me the opportunity to play, I'll be glad to take it," Reynolds said. Reynolds has one warning for the school. "There is too much politics at this school. Everyone is jealous of everyone else. Until the politics are removed it wouldn't matter if they brought John Wooden in as the new coach, L Al IA I M uetausc nicy won iwa winner. ALTHOUGH IT WAS thought that the team would have a better record at this point in the season, Reynolds is not disappointed. "1 hope we'll be successful the rest of the season, but I'm not a fortune teller," Reynolds said. 4'AH I can say is we're going to play hard, and, whatever the outcome, we'll Know we gave it our best shot." "We're optimistic, and we'll hang in there. This team is as close as any I've ever been on, and we'll give it all we've got," Reynolds added. As far as the rest of the season is concerned for himself Reynolds has one thought. "I'm at a point where I'm just going out there and enjoying the game, which is the way it should be. I'm just going to relax and do the best I can."