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Gamecock Sports Schedule ■ Women’s basketball at Wofford, 7 p.m. Wednesday ■ Indoor track at East Tennessee State, Friday and Saturday ■ Men’s basketball at Florida, 3 p.m. Saturday ■ Swimming vs. Auburn, 10 a.m. Saturday Auburn hands USC third SEC loss by Michael Haney The Gamecock Tony Kitchings’ first career double double couldn’t prevent the Gamecocks from losing their tliird SEC game of the season. Kitchings had one of his best per formances ever with 14 points and 18 re bounds, but USC fell to die Auburn Tigers, at home Saturday night, 60-57. Kitchings played with a bruised rib, but it didn’t keep the center from play-* ing his best. “It didn’t bother me that much until the second half,” Kitchings said of his in jury. “I mean, you just have to fight through it. I didn’t know I was going to have a game like that... sometimes [Auburn players] boxed me out, some times they didn’t.” The game was a roller-coaster ride as each team traded runs throughout both halves. After Carolina (10-6, 2-3 SEC) jumped out to a 4-0 lead, they went score less for nearly five minutes, and Auburn (12-6,2-3) scored the next 12 points. The Gamecocks went on an 18 5 run to take a 22-17 lead, but Auburn rebounded with a 13-4 run of its own to close out die first half and take a 30-26 halftime lead into the locker room. The Gamecocks shot just 21 percent fi om the field and were 4-of-13 from be yond the arc in the first half. The Gamecocks came out hot in the opening minutes of the second half. Aaron Lucas drained two free throws and a 3 pointer to go along with two baskets from Kitchings and Rolando Howell to give USC a 35-30 lead. But the man of the hour for Auburn was Adam Harrington. Harrington pulled the Tigers back into the game almost by himself when he made five consecutive baskets, three of which were 3-pointers. The Tigers went on a 16-4 run to take a 46-39 lead. Harrington led the Tigers in scoring with 17 points, 13 of them com ing within a span of five minutes. Howell broke a 48-48 tie with five minutes to play, but Auburn’s Lincoln 60 i _| 57 Glass stepped up and hit a three to give the Tigers a 51 -50 advantage. Down 53-50, Antonio Grant an swered for the Gamecocks with a three of his own. The two teams traded hoops down the stretch to tie at 57 with 53 sec onds to play. Harrington drained one of two foul shots with 16 seconds left to give Auburn a 58-57 advantage. The Gamecocks couldn’t come through in the clutch. Aaron Lucas drove the lane for Carolina looking for the win ning bucket, but his shot was swatted away by Auburn’s Kyle Davis with 3.3 seconds to play._ Glass hit two foul shots to up the lead to three, but good execution on the in bounds pass gave the Gamecocks one more shot. The Gamecocks called a timeout to set up the tying shot, but senior David Ross, who was three of four from three point range, missed the attempt at the buzzer. “It’s probably the most open shot I had all game,” Ross said. “It’s a shot I’ll probably hit six or seven out of 10. But that was one of the ones that just didn’t drop.” The Gamecocks, who have lost four of their last five, will need a run in SEC , play to have any hope of making the NCAA Tournament. The loss at home hurt, as Carolina will have a week off be fore traveling to Florida next week. The loss broke Carolina’s nine game home win streak. “This was a tough loss for us,” USC coach Eddie Fogler said. “I didn’t think we played particularly smart or shot the ball very well. We tried hard, but we just didn’t play well. “Everyone in the league has one loss, we have a lot more games to play, so it’s not over.” The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com January 20,2001, Frank McGuire Arena, Columbia, S.C. AUBURN 60, SOUTH CAROLINA 57 AUBURN (12-6,2-3 SEC) Davis 3-8 0-16, Daniels 4-9 1-2 9, Brewer 0-4 0-0 0, Pohlman 2-7 2-4 8, Har rington 6-12 1-2 17, Diame 2-5 0-0 4, Sharp 1-20-03, Bota 0-0 0-0 0, Glass 4-9 2-2 13. Totals 22-56 6-11 60. SOUTH CAROLINA (10-6,2-3) Grant 3-9 2-2 10, Howell 1-3 3-4 5, Petravicius 0-3 6-9 6, Lucas 1-7 6-6 9, Bradley 1-12 0-0 3, Ross 3-5 1-2 10, Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Boynton 0-5 0-0 0, Kitchings 5-8 44 14. Totals 14-52 22-27 57. Halftime—Auburn 30, South Carolina 26. 3-Point goals—Auburn 10-22 (Daniels 0-2, Brewer 0-1, Pohlman 2-4, Harrington 4-7, Sharp 1-2, Glass 3 6), South Carolina 7-26 (Grant 2-4, Lucas 1-4, Bradley 1-8, Ross 3-5, Boyn ton 0-5). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Auburn 37 (Davis 15), South Car olina 42 (Kitchings 18). Assists—Auburn 16 (Brewer 9), South Carolina 9 (Lucas 3). Total fouls—Auburn 20, South Carolina 17. A—10,982. Sean Rayford/The Gamecock Carolina’s Rolando Howell leans over Auburn’s Abdou Diame for a two-foot shot Saturday night. Howell, making his first start of his college career, was on the bench most of the game because of foul trouble. Baskets eluding team ■ Gamecocks shoot season-low 27 percent in loss by Kyle Almond The Gamecock Things only got worse Satur day night for South Carolina’s men’s basketball team. The Gamecocks, last in the SEC in field-goal percentage coming in to Saturday night’s game against Auburn, shot a season-low 26.9 per cent against the Tigers, and once again, head coach Eddie Fogler was left searching for answers. “I have no idea,” Fogler said when asked about how he can im prove his team’s shooting problem. “Try to give them confidence — that’s the way I think you go about it.” Whether it’s a psychological problem or a technical one, the Gamecocks know they have to shoot better if they want to compete in the SFr “If we shoot poorly like we did today, it’s going to be hard to win games,” center Tony Kitchings said. Kitchings, the only player on the team shooting better than 50 per cent from the field, accounted for five of the team’s seven baskets Sat urday night that were not 3-point ers. USC only made 14 shots in all from the field. In the first half, Carolina only made 6-of-28 shots for 21.4 percent. “There’s nothing you can really put your finger on,” forward and co captain David Ross said of the shoot ing problems. “These are the same shots we take in practice. The guys shooting the threes — they hit 65 or 70 out of 100 in practice. There is really nothing you can say. There is no explanation why we can’t carry that over from the practice court.” Kitchings agrees with Fogler’s idea that it’s all in the head. “I think it’s more mental,” he said. “In practice, we hit the shots and in shoot-around we hit the shots. I don’t know, I think players are just second-guessing their shots and com ing up short.” USC guards Aaron Lucas, Jamel Bradley and Michael Boynton shot a combined two of 24 from the field against Auburn. Bradley was one for eight from behind the arc, Lucas was Baskets see paged Florida outshoots Lady Gamecocks I__— ——---i-1 Sean Rayford/The Gamecock USC’s Shaun GortmaVi brings the ball upcourt during th^ Rorida game Sunday. Gortman finished with 23 points in the game. by Charles Tomlinson The Gamecock Despite leading for most of the first half, the USC Lady Gamecocks fell victim to a late comeback by No. 10 Florida, and lost Sunday’s game to the Gators 97-85 at Frank McGuire Arena. Forward Tatyana Troina, who led USC in scoring with 26 points, did all she could to pull out a win for her team. Troina bombarded the Gators with sev en 3-pointers. But in the end, it was n’t enough. Florida and Carolina played neck and-neck for a majority of the first half. Troina sank two 3-pointers in a row to bring USC to their laigest lead, 16-9. Florida’s Brandi McCain answered with a few of her own 3-pointers, tying the game at 29 and helping the Gators edge out the Gamecocks 44-43 at the half. USC jumped out to a 58-52 lead early in the second half, thanks to more 3-pointers from Troina and Teresa Geter. The Gamecocks then went on a cold spell that allowed Florida to take the lead. Troina, Shaun Gortntan and Ni han Anaz all made 3-pointers to give the Gamecocks a glimmer of hope, but Florida stifled the Gamecocks and ran away with the victory. “Our last few gabies, our defense 97 I 85 ht(s been down, and our defense has been something that I really felt was solid,” USC head coach Susan Walvius said. The shooting for both teams was virtually identical: Florida shot 53.3 percent to Carolina’s 51.7. “I think that any time you score 85 points and shoot 51 percent... you ex pect to win the game,” Walvius added. Gortman scored 23 points for Car olina and made seven out of eight from the free-throw line. Geter and center Petra Ujhelyi contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively. For the Gators, McCain led in scor ing with a game-high 29 points, and Tamara Stocks and Naomi Mobley com bined for 43 points. The Lady Gamecocks are now 7 11 overall and 3-3 in SEC match-ups. Florida improves its SEC record to 4 1 and its overall record to 15-2. The Gamecocks’ last victory over the Gators came in 1992, when they won, 66-50. Carolina will be in action again at 7 p.m. Wfednesday night when they face the Wofford Terriers. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Track team fares well at SEC Quad BY MANESHKA Eliatamby The Gamecock The Gamecock track and field team continued their winning streak Satur day when the women’s team emeiged as champions and the men came in as runners-up at the SEC Quadrangular Meet in Lexington, Ky. The Gamecock women finished the meet with eight first-place finishes and a final score of 165 points. They were followed by Geoigia and host Kentucky, with 135 and 127 points, respective ly The highlight of USC’s weekend was the women’s 60-meter event. Gamecock Kanisa Williams barely tri umphed over teammate Me’Lisa Bar ber. Williams and Barber clocked in identical times of 7.57 seconds and were followed in a close third by Takoya Thomas, who finished with a time of 7.61. USC’s Demetria Washington, who won both the 200-meter and 400-me ter events at the Armoiy Collegiate In vitational in New York City two weeks ago, continued her impressive streak when she won the women’s 200-me ter event. Washington finished with a time of 23.76, which was a NCAA Pro visional qualifying mark. She was fol lowed in second place by Gamecock Mechelle Lewis, who finished with a time of 24.50. The Gamecock women also proved their strength in the middle distances as well when they secured the first three spots in the 400-meter event. Miki Bar ber came in first with a time of 54.99. Tacita Bass and Sheneka Griffin came in second and third, respectively. Andrea Hallom won the 800-me ter, with teammate Erin Anderson fin ishing third. Jackie Madison, who came in sec ond at last week’s meet in the 60-me ter hurdles, won the event Saturday. Madison’s time of 8.21 was enough to make her the second Gamecock ath lete to surpass the NCAA Provisional qualifying mark. USC junior Char Fos ter came in third in the event. In the field events, Lynette Kep pler won the shot put with a throw of 49 feet, 9 inches. This distance passed the NCAA Provisional qualifying mark. Carolina freshman India Odum came in second with a throw of 48 feet, 1 3/4 inches. The USC men were impressive in both middle and long distances. The Track see page n