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Lady Gamect Frantic Lady Bulldog comeback falls short as Carolina remain unbeaten. RYAN WILSON Asst. Sports Editor The USC women's basketball team opened its SEC schedule Tuesday with a victory over the Lady Bulldogs of Mississippi State. The Lady Gamecocks extend their record to 4-0 and 1-0 in the SEC with the 63-56 victory in front of a crowd of502 in Frank McGuire Arena. The game was highlighted by good ball movement on the part of the Gamecocks in the first 35 minutes before the Lady Bulldogs pulled off an 18-4 run in the last five minutes to end the game only seven points down. l tnougnt we piayea wirn great poise, ana for 35 minutes our offense played extremely well. We slowed down in the last five and that gave them a chance to come back," head coach Nancy Wilson said. The first 10 minutes of the game saw each team trying to set the pace. The Lady Gamecocks rolled off the first six points of the contest before the Lady Bulldogs managed to tie the game at eight apiece. Mississippi State never managed to take the lead and got no closer the rest of the game. The Gamecocks got strong play in the inside from center Cindy Kelly who finished with 13 points. The junior from Sanford, NC, took use All-American Valery Calkins finished East. The women's team finished seconi this I Conn Loci to sell ba< Addam' Kinko's Whaley Univers I ADDA/' I Phone: 25 >cks open SE< advantage of the smaller Bulldog players and attributed her points to the play of guards Natalie Funderburk and Shannon Johnson. "We did a good job of moving the ball around all night. Natalie and Shannon played hard and did a good job of getting the ball into me," Kelly said. Funderburk, a junior from Camden, agreed that ball handling was key, but Kelly's play gives the offense another dimension. gether tonight. When she plays well, like she did JKL*. J3BH tonight, it opens up our Wg outside shooters," Fun- \ | Carolina ended the half up 32-19 with a 144 Jj & run highlighted by a steal by senior forward Christ! ^ELLy Timmons and her lone three-pointer of the game with three seconds left to play. "I really thought we ran our motion offense very well and made some good baskets in the first half. Christi was playing tremendous defense all night and she made some big steals," Wilson said. The second half opened up with.each team going on little runs. The Lady Gamecocks continued to have the upper hand most of the half, r *>. '* Ky ^ IPIIPP HbII4 g. third In the 200 Freestyle race In the fl 1, while the men's team finished seventh Hi PURCHASE PRICE. W# 'ARANTEED! ^7>/ jiO 1 our renient ntiens ck your books 's Bookstore i Parking Lot vs Mill sity Commons IS BR!N< 6-6666 C play with win but Mississippi State kept up with three trey's [ /? r*i n irom oiacie r ams. The game seemed out of reach when Funderburk hit a three with 6:38 to play to give Carolina a 21-point lead, their largest of the game, at 59-38. The rest of the game saw the Lady Bulldogs mount a frantic comeback but ultimately come up short. "When we got the big lead, we got complacent and relaxed a little bit. In a conference like the SEC there is never any time to relax, but we have shown a knack for winning the close games and it payed off tonight," Funderburk said. The Lady Gamecocks were led by Shannon Johnson with 19 points. Johnson, who was instrumental in most of Carolina's transition points, stressed the importance of winning the opening SEC game. "We were the only SEC team they beat last year, so we knew it was going to be tough. I think we played hard and got a good win," Johnson said. The Lady Gamecocks take their unbeaten streak into tomorrow's game against the Lady Tigers of Clemson. The game will tip off at 5 p.m., before the men's game at 7:30 p.m. "Clemson is a solid team. They played a 1 TT7_ _i. tt a 1 a x 1 1 1 a gooa vvesiern iventucKy team into aounie over- * time It will be a great game because we matchup < well personnel wise," Wilson said. 1 p 3S THE : | the 100fbeeat :50.72 ; . placed fifth in the 1,61 File Photo 200 breast at 2:17.C nals of the Speedo Cup Michelle McCarthy pi i In the event. finals of the 100 bac "" c pit*5 , beal JSC guard Natall >vor SEC foe Ml inbeaten at 4-0, *1 3 3 n STG 1 im tear )f South Carolina nd diving team finwith 629.5 points, finished seventh eSpeedo Cup East. ited the defending dACC (North Carery Calkins placed >f the 200 free at 9 jjiaieu 9CvUiiLi*iii !. Stacey DeLaney 50 free at 16:50.93. a Henninger also e in the 100 breasi and fourth in the )4. All-American aced second in the kstroke at :56.62 iUi I I 3 i Mississippi v .. - , ' - - 4 mm hHI^ 4i e Funderburk makes the offensive c ssissippl State. The Lady Gamecock take on rival Clemson tomorrow night ns find success and second in the 200 backstroke at 2:00.76. Calkins, Delaney and Fraas made the NCAA B Standard in their respective events for the NCAA Championships to be held in Indianapolis, Ind., March 16-18. McCarthy and Henninger made the NCAA B Standard in the 100 and 200 backstroke and 100 and 200 breastroke, respectively. in tne men's finals, Ail-American Dan Phillips placed third in the 100 backstroke at :51.03, sixth in the 100 free at 46.36,14th in the 200 back at 1:50.64 and 12th in the 400IM at 4:10.02. AilAmerican Jay Telford placed 10th in the 1650 free at 15:56.09. Both the men's and women's teams found success on the diving boards again with Ail-American Vivian Alberty winning the one-meter board and teammates IRANI Prize egister to w of these pria I pairs of tick he Carquest E I Mountain Bi or I lucky winne lext semester FREE!! >R? TO Fax: 2i State 63-56 | J!* BOB WERTZ The Gamecock all In the Lady Gamecocks victory ;s, which have started the season : at 5 pm. in Speedo Cup Laura Pykett and Danielle Duris finishing third and fifth, respectively. The men's Tommy Thomas won the one-meter board. Overall, Alberty and Thomas won both the one- and three-meter boards this weekend. In the consolation finals, Jessica Nixon broke the school record set by McCarthy in 1992, going 2:02.92 in the 200 IM and makiner the NCAA B Standard for the NCAA Championships. Nixon also placed fifth in the 100 butterfly at :56.55, making the NCAA B Standard for the NCAAs. She later placed sixth in the 200 backstroke at 2:02.25. The women's 200 medley relay (Anna Krenk, Henninger, Nixon and Fraas) placed second at 1:45.16. FEED I s I in one L I EOS*** I I :ets to I I lowl I I ikes I I rs get I I s books I I YOUSSSI