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9 (November 20, 1985 ., the gamecock Wednesday <"*M*"*MM"M *MM?"""""M" MMMMMMMM^m|HM^^ aMBMnHBB^BnB,rHfiBmi1^^ 0, | |||| ?ppwn Mill I IhliMlibTTTTfrrrMTTMrmri Carolina Hi i?mil?I win in .r All America candidate Brantley Souther* leads t Lady Gameco to repeat as By TOM GATTO Staff writer Usually, losing two of your top playe from the previous season would be cause f< great concern. But for Lady Gamecot basketball head coach Nancy Wilson, in hi second season at Ui>C, the loss ot torwai Renee Najarian and guard Gwen Lynch isn a catastrophe. She does have three senior starters comii back ? All-America candidate Brantl< Southers at forward, center Sharon Gilmo and point guard Mindy Ballou ? plus juni< forward-guard Monica Williams and e perienced reserves to fill in, meanii everyone has to contribute. "We lost our leading rebounder (N juuaiij nuiii mM ycai, wium mean* wc going to have to work even harder < defense than we ever have," Wilson said. Najarian left the team in the off-seas< for personal reasons, while Lynch transfc red to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Two other players from U year, Lori Rowe and Colleen Frost, did n return, and Marsi McAlister graduated. Besides the seniors and Williams, Wilsi can call on sophomore guard Dawn Raa forwards Tammy Harvey, a junior, at Amy McAlister, a redshirt sophomore; ai sonhnmnrM I aura anrl Proov C5la? at fc ward and centcr, respectively. Freshman recruit Martha Parker frc Columbia's Hammond Academy, roun out the squad and could wind up starting either forward or guard. "I've been extremely pleased with Mart Parker, who's been a real spark plug for in practice," Wilson said. "She can be t catalyst for us that we were missing li year." Last year the Lady Gamecocks finish 18-10 and in first place in the northern di i up and ri tsmmm D W RAY GRONBERG/rn. Cw.ic.cfc Wf ~ ha Lady Gamecocks . ,?; cks looking I Metro champs 4^ sion of the Metro Conference, only to lose to [ Southern Mississippi in the second round of JHHBH rs the conference tournament. )r Memphis State won the championship last jf,e Gar :k season, but Wilson feels Virginia Tech is the er pre-season favorite. rd "Virginia Tech is probably the best team T i't coming back. They have a real good team. | II Memphis, even though they lost (6-foot-4 ig center) Regina Street, have a lot of a.i :_i i iL. ;n *- - - ? "i quicKiicsb, anu incy win oc lougn. _ rj re The Metro Conference will be without t, M Q or Tulane this year, according to Wilson,-it x- won't have much of an effect. ig USC's main strength will be the experience GREI among the starters who have played one sP?m edl a- season for Wilson and know her style. On Bill 1 re the negative side, the squad only has 10 some t in players on the roster, meaning everyone head bi must stay healthy to stay competitive. thinks i 5n "Our principle weakness is that we don't "We !r- have a lot of size," Wilson said. At 6-3, ment a at Gilmore is the tallest player. "That means play." ist we'll have to have everyone boarding (re- Louisv ot bounding) harder than normal," said. rankini Even if everything goes USC's way, they "Ob an still must get through a difficult non- we're 1 b; confercncc schedule. a Dunci nd The Lady Gamecocks must play Top 20 and Ci nd teams such as Virginia, North Carolina "We >r- State, Tennessee and Memphis State, plus ferenct the two teams that played in last year's if the 1 >m NCAA women's finals, Old Dominion and F?st ds Georgia. boundi at "If we can beat or even hang in with them, He a it will help us with our confidence," Wilson this sei ha said. "W< us USC opens its season at 5 p.m. Friday ' think he against South Carolina State in Carolina *h ast Coliseum. Then they travel to Nevada-Las Foster Vegas to play the Lady Rebels on Nov. 25 some g ed and return home to play N.C. State on Dec. citing) vi- 2. Fan: inning in 1 BP8flP^9^ ljp'' ":^ lj|B1^r j *- ' pps irig % **' *Wy. B|l%sS^^tejiliS^~- ^jzisM necocks want to run and press mors this season ster hoping spe imecocks to do I jG LASKY court o iior in for s< Foster has seen some good times and I "We >ad times since taking over as USC ? and pr isketball coach in 1980. But he said he the def this year will be one of the good ones. can w : want to get to a postseason tourna- doesn't nd finish as high as we can in league USC Foster said. "There's no doubt road, u ille and Memphis State have the top 1984. 1 g in the Metro, and they deserve it. win on viously, we'd like to finish first, but "Em ooking to win third place. There'll be tion," h of good teams. I think Virginia Tech about i ncinnati will be tough this year. Fans :'ve beaten all the teams in the con- five- tc : before, and we can beat them again the pas ittlc things get better." faces er said those "little things" include re- will be ing, defense and free-throw shooting. The Iso said the team's attitude is different came ? ison. guard I ; have a closer-knit team this year, and years, the chemistry is starting to blend. We forwar at this team is going to get better," Gamec said. "I think we're going to have ner of ;reat nights ? it should be another ex- Year a season for the fans. Inst< i expecting the usual slow-down, half '85 Si RAY GRONBERGfDw Smmack ied carries stseason ffense because of a lack of speed are ome surprises this season, Foster said. Ml be playing more of a running game essure game on offense. Hopefully, ense is going to play well so that we in some games wnen the ottense show up," he said. is coming off a bad stretch on the /inless away from home since January But Foster said the Gamecocks will the road this season. augh has been said about that situaFoster said. "We don't even talk it anymore." used to the old, more established > seven-man lineup USC has used in t should be prepared to see some new - and a lot of them. Foster said there a new look to the team. change in Foster's starting lineup is a bit of a surprise to some. Point Michael Foster, a starter the past two will not start this season. Neither will d Linwood Moye, who was the ocks' leading scorer last year and winMetro Conference Newcomer of the na i-tonoraoie Mention awards. ;ad, center Duane Kendall will be joinSee "Men's," page 4.