The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 26, 2001, Page 7, Image 7
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 and diving vs. Auburn, 10 a.m. Saturday
^hc<5amecock ^ | page7 •
Lady Gamecocks dominate Wofford
Sean Rayford/The Gamecock
*-ady Gamecock Shaun Gortman passes the ball to a teammate in a game against Honda earlier this season. Gortman had 10 points, sev
en rebounds and six assists in USC’s 87-45 thumping of Wofford Wednesday.
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
The USC Lady Gamecocks breezed to
an 87-45 victory at Wofford Wednesday
night and built self-confidence for their
upcoming game at Florida.
Carolina (8-11,3-3 SEC) jumped to an
early 164 lead on the Lady Teniers (8-10,
4-5 Southern) and never looked back. USC
shot an impressive 47 percent from the
field and had a season-low 11 turnovers.
“I’m proud of the way our team played
tonight in taking care of the ball and
executing offensively,” USC head coach
Susan Walvius said. “Tonight was a very
important game for us to show where we
are against a quality non-conference
opponent like Wofford.”
Walvius was more encouraged,
however, by her team’s defensive
intensity. USC shut down the Lady
Terriers and made things difficult for their
shooters. Wofford only hit 28 percent of
their shots, well below its season average
of 45 percent. USC also forced 22 turnovers.
“I thought that we took Wofford out
of their offense and held a good shooting
team to only 45 points,” Walvius said.
“After Sunday’s game against Florida, we
were concerned with our defensive play,
and we concentrated on that in practice
Monday and Tuesday. Tonight, I think that
we had a good overall effort on defense.”
USC had a 45-26 lead at halftime and
continued to increase it in the second half.
The Lady Gamecocks went on a 28-6
run to start the second half, including
scoring the first 12 points. Eleven of the
12 Lady Gamecocks who played in the
87
45
game scored, and the South Carolina bench
contributed 31 points.
Freshman guard Nihan Anaz led USC
with 15 points, and three other Lady
Gamecocks scored in double figures.
Teresa Geter, Shaun Gortman and
Shannon Segres each pulled down seven
rebounds for Carolina.
“South Carolina is a tough team,”
Wofford head coach David Graves said.
“They have size, talent and good
coaching. We definitely saw tonight what
Southeastern Conference basketball is all
about. We didn’t play our best tonight, and
we couldn’t stop them.”
“Wfe now have to turn our attention to
the rest of the conference schedule and
work to finish the best we can in the league.”
Jenny Nett led the Lady Terriers
with 12 points, all of which were scored
in the first half. Nett also had a team-high
six rebounds.
South Carolina now turns its
attention to the Florida Lady Gators, who
defeated USC last Sunday in Columbia,
97-85. Florida shot 53 percent in that game,
and connected on 8-of-18 from 3-point
range.
Tip-off for Sunday afternoon’s game is
2 p.m. at the Stephen C. O’Connell Cen
ter in Gainesville.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmaiLcom
UoL to tace vengetul Gators in Gainesville
by Chris Foy
The Gamecock
The South Carolina Gamecocks
(10-6,2-3 SEC) will travel to Gainesville
in hopes of improving their sub-par
conference record Saturday against SEC
East rival and 14th-ranked Florida
(124,2-3).
The last time these two teams met,
Jan. 4 in Columbia, the Gamecocks won
69-68 after Travis Kraft hit a 3-pointer
% the buzzer.
Unfortunately, South Carolina will
be without the star of that game, as Kraft
has opted to redshirt the remainder of his
season to heal his injured foot. Carolina
will also miss the presence of starter
Chuck Edson, who tore the ACL in his
right knee against Vanderbilt Jan. 17 and
will be out for the year.
The Gators are in almost as much bad
shape as USC. Like the Gamecocks, the
Gators have been plagued with injuries
this season. This past Wednesday, they
lost reserve guard Justin Hamilton to a
tom ACL. Earlier this month, starting
forward Brent Wright underwent foot
suigery. And starting point guard Teddy
Dupay is taking time offbecause of a her
niated disk in his back.
^ Last year’s national runner-up
entered this season with high hopes, but
now finds itself in a desperate position
after losing three of its five SEC match
ups. After being dropped from the No. 5
spot after losses to Georgia and USC,
Florida players are eager to show the na
tion that they haven’t lost it yet.
Florida is still averaging 85.9 points
per game and shooting an impressive 48.1
percent from the field. They are led by
center Udonis Haslem, who is averaging
17.6 points and 8.2 rebounds a game.
Guard Brett Nelson is second on the team
in points, averaging 13.4 a game. During
the last match-up with South Carolina,
forward Matt Bonner led the Gators’
effort with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
With a week off, the Gamecocks hope
to be fully healed and all wanned up when
they roll into Gainesville. USC
desperately needs to enter with an
improved shooting attack, as it has shot
a mere 32 percent in its past two games.
“It’s becoming frustrating because
we’re in ballgames, and we’re still doing
things to win, but we’re not shooting the
ball well, which is probably the
difference for us,” starting point guard
Aaron Lucas said.
This season, South Carolina has been
averaging 70.2 points per game — last in
the SEC in scoring. However, the
Gamecocks can boast the second-ranked
scoring defense in the conference.
Carolina will be led by Lucas, who
is averaging 10.8 points per game, and
sophomore center Tony Kitchings, who
will bring a team-leading 7.2 rebounds in
the paint. Kitchings had 14 points last
Wednesday against Vanderbilt and is
averaging 10 points a game.
With the loss of Eidson, the
Gamecocks will continue to look to
senior co-captain David Ross and
freshman forward Rolando Howell for
support. After Eidson got hurt in the
Vanderbilt game, Howell had a career
night with 13 points. Ross had 10 points
in the Gamecocks’ latest game, a 60-57
loss to Auburn last Saturday.
Carolina will have to leave its
solid home record (9-2) back in
Columbia and try to improve their road
record (14). Ross knows a loss to Auburn
on their home court wasn’t the best thing
for their NCAA Tournament hopes.
“It’s very, very tough to win on the
road,” he said. “That’s why it’s key to win
most of your home games. We’re going
to have to go and steal a couple on the
road.”
Tip-off for the game is scheduled for
3 p.m.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
■ LOCATION:
Stephen C. O’Connell
Center, Gainesville, Fla.
■ TIME: 3 p.m. Saturday
■ TV: Jefferson-Pilot
Sports
■ RADIO: WVOC (560 AM)
■ RECORDS: USC (10-6,
2-3 SEC), Florida (12-4, 2
3 SEC)
Travis Lynn/The Gamecock
Marius Petravicius and the Gamecocks look to
sweep Honda this weekend in Gainesville.
Swimming and diving teams back in action
#,y Maneshka Eliatamby
The Gamecock
USC’s swimming and diving teams took
only 10 days off during the Christmas break and
rigorously trained at a training camp in Flori
da during the first two weeks in January.
> Now the hard-working athletes are back in
Competition.
With the long holiday, the Gamecocks
are looking forward to their home meet against
SEC defending champion Auburn this
Saturday. Auburn, whose roster is almost twice
as; large as USC’s, has won the National
Championship two out of the past three
years.
The women’s swim team started last
weekend in Arkansas, but its best efforts were
hindered because of travel problems. Only nine
^ic Gamecocks made it to the meet, but they
ere'severely handicapped because they
didn’t have their luggage.
The Gamecocks are facing stiff
competition in Auburn, but head coach Don
Gibb is confident his team will swim well against
its opponents.
“At the bare minimum, I expect an im
provement in their times,” he said. “Everybody
is in much better condition than they were in
last semester. Everyone seems to be paying a
lot more attention to the finer details and are
now very much in competition mode.”
The Gamecock swim teams acquired two
new swimmers since their last meet. Both
athletes are natives of Hungary and joined the
team at the beginning of the semester.
Tamas Szucs, who swims the 800-meter
freestyle, becomes the third former Olympian
to compete on USC’s swim team. Szucs joins
fellow Hungarian teammates Istvan Bathazi and
Zsolt Caspar. Anna Nyiry, the other new ad
dition to the team, is expected to strengthen an
already highly competitive short-distance team.
The three Olympians are favored to win
their respective events and meet SEC and NCAA
qualifying times.
Another Gamecock who will be on the
minds of many is All-American Sarah Doyle.
Doyle is expected to finish the 1000-meter
freestyle event with a NCAA qualifying time.
Other Carolina athletes to watch at
Saturday’s competition are Caroline Kem, Tri
cia Rye (individual medley), Kristen Butler
(backstroke), Megan Johnson (butterfly) and
Jen Van Assen (freestyle).
Diver Brandon Hulko leads the diving team
in the three- and five-meter platform events.
Teammate Brad Brown has a good chance of
placing in the same events.
Holly Hodges will be the only female
Gamecock diver participating on Saturday.
USC diving head coach Todd Sherritt has
confidence in his athletes and their abilities.
■ LOCATION:
Carolina Natatorium, Columbia,
S.C.
■ TIME: 10 a.m. Saturday
“I expect them to fare well at this meet and
finish with high point tallies,” Sherritt said.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
1 earn success
motivates USC
track and field
■ Gamecock athletes to
split up for weekend meets
by Maneshka Eliatamby
The Gamecock .
The Gamecock track and field team, which has
fared well in the three competitions it’s taken part in
this season, looks to extend its dominance this
weekend in a pair of indoor meets.
Around 50 USC track athletes will be
competing in Johnson City, Tenn., at the ETSU
Invitational today and Saturday, while a smaller group
of athletes heads to Arkansas.
Both teams will be vying for top honors and
looking to establish SEC and NCAA qualifying or
provisional times.
Head coach Curtis Frye and his athletes seem to
have one objective in mind: team success. The first
words out of many of the athletes’ mouths are “we
want the team to do well as a whole.”
Pap Howard, a senior sprinter on the men’s team,
is predicting good things out of his teammates this
weekend
“I expect a few improvements on the team as a
whole,” Howard said. “My main focus for this season
is to achieve personal bests and to try and win both
the SECs and Nationals.”
TT_] _ r_A_1_ t • T-v •
Uliucicaitu WU11IC1I 5 5JJI1I1LCI l^ClilCUid
Washington has already passed the NCAA qualifying
time in the 400 meters, and she is hoping she can
achieve the same result in the 200.
“I am in good form right now, and I’m happy with
my performances so far,” Washington said. “I’d like
to keep up to the standard I have set for myself so far
this season, and as for the team, I feel that both the
men’s and women’s teams have a lot of talent and will
do well this year.”
Another up-and-coming Gamecock track athlete
is hurdler Deandre Eland, who came out this past
weekend with an unexpected win in the 60-meter
hurdles. In his first-ever college meet, Eland ran a
time of 7.94 Saturday, just four one-hundredths of a
second behind the NCAA qualifying mark.
Eland, who also plays safety on the Gamecock
football team, said although it’s a balancing act keep
ing up with both sports, he seems to be doing well so
far.
Jackie Madison, a senior competing in her last
season for the Gamecocks, is hoping to finish her
college career in perfect style.
“I’m trying to get an SEC Championship title, and
I would like to go out as an All-American,” she said.
“I’m going to go out there and try for an NCAA au
tomatic mark, and I feel that the competition I will
face will help me in achieving this goal.”
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmaiLcom