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Gamecock Sports Schedule ■ Baseball at Wofford, 7 p.m. Wednesday ■ Men’s tennis vs. Kentucky, 2 p.m. Friday ■ Women’s tennis vs. Ole Miss, 2 p.m. Friday ■ Track and field in Weems Baskin Relays, Friday-Saturday ic (Bamecock page 7 use falls in first round of NIT ■ Saunders, UConn end Fogler's eight year career as head coach of Gamecocks Associated Press STORRS, Conn. - There were hand shakes and hugs all around in Eddie Fogler’s final game as South Carolina’s coach. Connecticut (20-11) ended Fogler’s run at South Carolina this past Wednesday night, beating the Gamecocks 72-65 in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. Fogler announced his resignation two days earlier when the school didn’t extend his contract. “I wanted our kids to have fun and play hard. Win and we go on. Lose, we lose,” Fogler said. “I think they played hard and had fun.” The Gamecocks (15-15) played the Huskies tight until the final four minutes, when UConn closed with a 13-6 run. Edmund Saunders led the Huskies with 15 points and 11 rebounds and made key defensivejilays in the closing moments. Saunders is one of three seniors who were members of UConn’s 1999 national championship team. “I want to go out with a bang, get as many wins as I can,” Saunders said. “I’m kind of spoiled, and we’re used to getting 20 wins a season. So we got our 20th win today, and we just have to keep going.” The Huskies (20-11) will play Detroit in the second round. Detroit advanced with a 68-49 win over Bradley. UConn has appeared in 11 NITs and won the tournament in 1988 in coach Jim Calhoun’s second season. “We kept saying to the kids during time outs, ‘it’s a 32-team field, and there’s a championship to be won,”’ Calhoun said. “It is not the one we aspire for, but right now, it is the only one.” Caron Butler had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies, who outrebounded the Gamecocks 38-25. Jamel Bradley had 19 points and was 6-for-9 from 3-point range for South Carolina. Butler’s jumper with 3:52 left snapped a 59-59 tie and was the 26th lead change of the game. After a South Carolina turnover, Saunders finished off a UConn fast break with a reverse hook to put the Huskies up 63-61. 72 65 UConn’s Taliek Brown was then fouled as he fielded a defensive rebound and hit both ends of a 1-and-l, giving the Huskies a 65-59 lead with 2:49 remaining. Aaron Lucas went to the line for the Gamecocks with 2:28 left, missed the front end of a l-and-1 and Saunders came down with the rebound. The possession resulted in a 3-pointer from Albert Mouring as the Huskies outscored the Gamecocks 7-6 the rest of the way. The game was played at the usually raucous 10,000-seat Gampel Pavilion, but on Wednesday, there were just 3,200 fans. “Usually the crowd is like our sixth man and they always boost us, but they did an excellent job with that. And about the four-minute mark, they got us back where we needed to be,” Butler said. Saunders had three points in a 10-3 UConn run to give the Huskies a 25-20 lead with 9:39 left in the first. But the edge quickly disappeared as five UConn turnovers over the next three minutes resulted in a 14-7 South Carolina run. Bradley hit three 3-pointers in that spurt and the Gamecocks took a 35-32 lead at the break. Marius Petravicius added 15 points for South Carolina. Fogler, 52, finishes his career at South Carolina with a 123-117 record. He took over the Gamecocks after winning coach of the year honors at Vanderbilt. Fogler has taken three teams to the NCAA Tournament — Wichita State (1987-88), Vanderbilt (1991, ‘93), South Carolina (1997-98). The Gamecocks have lost seven of their past nine games. Fogler said he doesn’t expect to be back in college ball. “It is ^etyolifficuit with college athletics being the way it is today and the pressures. You are darned if you do, darned if you don’t,” Fogler said. “I’m leaving college basketball with my dignity, my integrity and my sanity.” Sean Rayford/The Gamecock Eddie Fogler wasn’t the only one who saw his career as a Gamecock end last Wednesday against UConn. Seniors Antonio Grant (pictured) and David Ross played their final game for USC. While You Were Away... Washington’s two titles lead women’s track team to second-place finish at NCAA Championships ■ Gamecock men finish 16th in final indoor meet of season ‘The girls had a great meet, and you never feel bad when you finish second to a great team like UCLA.’ h.vv« «r % Curtis Frye USC Track and Field Flead Coach by Kyle Almond The Gamecock Despite finishing in the runner-up slot for the second straight year to UCLA in the NCAA Indoor Championships, the USC women’s track team had a lot to show for what could be considered a highly successful indoor season. After all, the women’s 4X400 relay team smashed an NCAA record to win an individual title, Demetria Washington added another and 16 Gamecocks in all collected All-American honors at the meet, which was held March 9-10 in Fayetteville, Ark. UCLA’s women scored 531/2 points to win the national title, while USC was second with 40 points, but USC head coach Curtis Frye said his team had nothing to be ashamed of after finishing second. “The girls had a great meet, and you never feel bad when you finish second to a great team like UCLA,” Frye said. “We gave it everything we had, but we just didn’t have enough. V»fe have to come back and keep doing it again and again until we are the NCAA champions. I am proud of this group of ladies.” On the men’s side, the Gamecock men finished 16th with 13 points. LSU won the title with 34 points. The men’s 4x400m relay team, as well as 800-meter runner Otukile Lekote, finished third. It was the fifth straight year the Gamecock men finished in the top 20. “I am quite happy with our finish on both sides,” Frye said. “We would have loved to have won it and had our men in the top five, but our goals remain the same outdoors: fight for top five finishes on both sides.” In the women’s 4X400 relay, USC shattered the NCAA record by more than a second and a half with 3:30.08 and defeated runner-up Texas by three seconds. It is the first time in four years that Texas has not won the relay. Carolina’s team of Washington, Miki Barber, Sheneka Griffin and Tacita Bass broke its own school record by more than two and a half seconds. Washington made good on a promise she made to herself and won the 400 meter individual title. Teammates Barber and Bass were third and sixth, respectively. Washington ran a 52.37 to defeat Nebraska’s Lesley Owusu, who ran a 52.49. “I just wanted to run a good race because I knew the competition was great,” a tearful Wasliington said. “I am just so proud of myself, Miki and Tacita for scoring so well. I knew I had to gel out and run a good, smart race. “I was just really thankful. I thanked God firct because without him, I wouldn’t be here. I just want to thank everybody: my friends, my family, my teammates.” Barber, the defending NCAA outdoor champion and NCAA indoor runner up in the 400, was third at 52.87. Bass ran a personal best 53.37 to finish sixth. All tliree were All-Americans, a first-time honor for Bass and the 12th and 10th honors respectively for Barber and Washington. “I didn’t do well personally here, so I wanted to come away with an NCAA title and help my time,” Barber said. “I gave it all I had.” Lekote was third in the 800 for the Gamecock men, shattering his own school record to finish at 1:46.13. The freshman led the race for the first three laps, but relinquished the lead to Arizona’s Patrick Nduwimana, who broke the NCAA record at 1:45.33. Lekote, who was No. 1 in the 800 all season long, was thrilled with the race after winning the SEC title two weeks ago. “It was a really good race,” he said. “I ran a P.R. (personal record) and feel really good about my race. They gave me a very good race. I thought I could hold them off, but I guess I was tired.” The men’s 4x400m relay team was third with a time of 3:06.43. The team, which consisted of Lekote, Pap Howard, Otis Harris and Gerald Pressley, won its first heat, but fell short in the final. This past weekend, in the first outdoor meet of the track season, USC’s women won tliree events, while the men won two. However, the entire squad did not participate in the Miami Invitational, as most adiletes took a break after competing in the NCAAs. Andre Totton (100 meters) and the 4X100 relay team took top honors for the men while Alana Robinson (discus), Lori Tvarkunas (pole vault) and Lynette Keppeler (shot put) finished first for the women. USC returns home Friday to host the Wfeems Baskin Invitational, its fust home outdoor meet of 2001. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.coin Special to The Gamecock Demetria Washington (left) and Miki Barber show off their awards from a win in the 4X400 relay. Baseball Gamecocks lose twice on road to Tennessee by K Y le Almond - The Gamecock USC’s baseball team lost two games in a three-game series this weekend with No. 21 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. The Gamecocks, ranked No. 3 in the nation by Baseball America, lost to the \blunteeis 5-2 Saturday and 5-3 on Sunday to fall to 19-4 overall and 4-2 in the SEC. Tennessee improved to 20-3,5-1 in the conference. The Vols jumped out early on USC pitcher Chris Spigner (4-1) Sunday with three runs in the first inning and another in the second. Tennessee was held to a season-low four hits in the game, but the early damage was too much for USC to overcome. Down 5-3 in the ninth inning, Carolina almost mounted a comeback. The Gamecocks put two men on base with two outs and Tony Adler at bat. However, the Vbls’ Dan Wilson made a game-saving catch for the final out in right center, snatching the fly bail with the edge of his glove before crashing into the wall. Wilson hit two RBIs, and teammate Brandon Crowe (4-0) struck out seven en route to the win. Carolina’s first conference loss of the year Saturday also broke a six-game winning streak for the Gamecocks. The Vols scored all five of its runs in the seventh inning to put away USC. Pinch-hitters Hal Bibee and Justin Parker hit consecutive run-scoring singles to tie the game at two, and Chris Burke doubled in the game-winner for Tennessee. Wyatt Allen (4-1) allowed only six hits and two runs over seven innings to get the win, while Carolina’s Gary Bell (5 2) was credited with the loss. “They had a big seventh, and we weren’t able to rally,” said USC head coach Ray Tanner, who wasn’t surprised by Tennessee’s play. “I never felt Tennessee had a bad team • last year or the year before,” Tanner said. “They dropped a lot of close games in the SEC last year, but they were as good as many of the NCAA regional teams.” Tennessee head coach Rod Delmonico thinks a win against USC will prove valuable as the season goes on. “[USC] is the No. 3 team, and this gives our guys the confidence they can play with anybody in the country,” Delmonico said. The Vols’ five-run barrage in the seventh also broke a 16-inning scoreles1 streak. “I didn’t think any team could shut us out for two games,” Allen said. “It was just a matter of time.” Kip Bouknight shut out the Vols on Friday and almost pitched a no-hitter. The senior right-hander didn’t allow a hit until the eighth inning, when Burke singled with two outs. For Bouknight (5-0), the performance put an end to his recent struggles on the mound. Last year’s National Player of the Year was rocked in his two previous outings against George Mason and Arkansas. “Anytime you struggle, everybody starts wondering what’s wrong,” said Bouknight, who had a 17-1 record last year. “The one major thing is I haven’t been aggressive enough in throwing some pitches out of the zone. “My main focus all the time is to just give my team a chance to win. Luckily, we’ve won those games where I didn’t perfonn as well as I would have liked.” Tint Whittaker’s two-run home run supplied all the offense USC would need. Garris Gonce also added an RBI double. Coming into the Tennessee series, USC had swept Arkansas in its opening conference series at Sarge Frye Field by a combined score of 34-12. Carolina also added home wins against Davidson and Butler. USC will stay on the road to face Wofford on Wednesday before returning to Columbia on Friday for a three-game set with Vanderbilt. • The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com