The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 26, 2001, Page 7, Image 7
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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, November 26, 2001 *
t~v r\ t^i m Oi GAME SCHEDULE
I VI I I W I I 1 ’ MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. ETSU, 7:30 p.m. Monday
CONTACT US I-^ V I |-^C I MEN’S BASKETBALL at Wofford, 7p.m. Wednesday
■ V VI M I L WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at Clemson, 7 p.m. Wednesday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I I II I I k V WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Duquesne, 7 p.m. Friday
Writeusatgamecochsports@hotmail.com I f I m. I TV y SWIMMING AND DIVING at Davidson Invitational, Friday
USC topples Duke
LADY GAMECOCKS 4-0 AFTER OVERTIME WIN
BY CHRIS FOY
THE GAMECOCK
The Lady Gamecocks upset the
No. 7 Duke Lady Blue Devils
Sunday afternoon in overtime, 87
81, at the Duke Women’s
Basketball Classic.
Guard Shaunzinski Gortman,
who was named the MVP of the
tournament, was on fire for USC,
scoring 25 points and pulling in 12
rebounds. But after the game,
Gortman was more impressed
with her team’s defensive play
than its offense.
“Coming into this game, we
were all motivated to play defen
sively,” Gortman said. “I was
thinking that if I could play well
defensively, then my offense would
come and we would win the game.”
With six minutes left in the first
half, the Lady Blue Devils found
themselves down 25-13. Off two free
throws, a 6teal and a three-pointer
from Vicki Krapohl, Duke managed
to narrow the margin to six. But the
Lady Gamecocks held onto their
lead and built it up as they cruised
into halftime with a 35-26 lead.
The Lady Blue Devils weren’t
through, though, and fought their
way back. Duke’s Rometra Craig
stole the ball from Kelly Morrone
and nailed a layup to pull her team
within three, 56-53.
The Lady Gamecocks managed
to pull back away briefly before
the Lady Blue Devils narrowed the
margin to one with two minutes
remaining in the game off a layup
by Iciss Tillis. With the clock run
ning down, Alana Beard hit two
free throws to give Duke a three
point lead with 47 seconds re
maining in the game. Morrone
kept the game alive for the
Gamecocks, however, as she
notched the three-point goal with
21 seconds remaining. Duke was
unable to capitalize in the fleeting
moments of regulation, and the
game was sent into overtime with
the game tied at 72.
In overtime, Duke struck first with
a field goal by Monique Currie. USC
pulled back to being down by one, 76
75, before Morrone stole the ball from
Trillis. Morrone passed to Gortman,
who made the layup that gave the
Gamecocks a lead they wouldn’t re
linquish. Gortman made six of eight
free throws as the overtime wound
down, and the Lady Gamecocks
walked away with a six-point victory.
USC head coach Susan Walvius
was thrilled with her team’s perfor
mance against the Lady Blue Devils.
“I’m really proud of our team,”
Walvius said. “We came out there,
and we had the mentality that we
would fight for 40 minutes, and we
fought for 45 minutes. We came out
with the win. I didn’t think it was al
ways pretty, and we got a little care
less with the ball, but we fought hard.”
Morrone agrees, and thinks
this South Carolina squad is ready
to make some noise.
“I think we are a team that is ris
ing to challenges this year,”
Morrone said. “That’s what we are
all about. For us to come in and get
a win, that gives us all the confi
dence in the world to take the next
step.”
USC 72, Missouri 60
Before squaring off against the
Blue Devils, the Lady Gamecocks
downed the Missouri Tigers in the
first round of the Duke Women’s
Basketball Classic. Gortman had
a team-leading 18 points and sev
en rebounds. Junior forward
Jocelyn Penn knocked in 15 points.
“I’m happy with the way we
Tournament MVP Shaunzinski Gortman powered past Duke and Missouri in the Duke
Women’s Basketball Classic, special to the gamecock
picked up our defensive intensity
today,” Walvius said. “We played
an aggressive man-to-man de
fense. We were well prepared to
play Missouri, and it showed. The
team was very focused today and
took a very good Missouri team
out of its offense.”
Kerensa Barr led the Lady
Tigers with 19 points.
Gortman and Morrone were
both named to the All-Tournament
team.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
Soccer edged out in first round
BY KYLE ALMOND
TI1K CAMKCOCK
UAB’s Flavio Monteiro scored
a header goal in sudden-death
overtime Sunday at the
Graveyard to defeat South
Carolina and bring the
Gamecocks’ season to a sudden
halt.
Monteiro finished off a corner
kick at the 96:47 mark in overtime
and gave the Blazers a 3-2 win in
the second round of the NCAA
Tournament.
“We know that, at any single
moment, he can do the special
things it takes to win a game,”
University of Alabama
Birmingham head coach Mike
Getman said of Monteiro. The ju
nior forward’s golden goal sent
the Blazer bench into a frenzy
and left a dejected Gamecock
team searching for answers.
USC (12-5-2) looked to have the
upper hand as the match pro
gressed, pressuring their oppo
nents and coming close to scoring
a game-winner. The No. 14
Gamecocks had already came
back twice from behind in the
game.
However, a fantastic individual
effort by Monteiro spoiled
Carolina’s hopes at continuing its
season.
“[Monteiro] just got there first,”
said Carolina head coach Mark
Berson, who was coaching for the
15th time in the NCAA Tournament
Berson said he was proud of
his team’s effort and looked posi
tively at what turned out to be a
dismal afternoon for his team.
“It’s hard enough to come back
from behind once in a game,”
Berson said. “To come back twice
was exceptional. Our guys never
quit.”
UAB (15-5) grabbed an early
lead in the 12th minute of play
when Martin Rey slotted home a
rebound off a kick-save by
Michael Bachmeyer.
The one-goal advantage lasted
until early in the second half,
when USC’s Ryan Daley convert
ed a penalty kick to tie the game
at the 48:16 mark.
Rey put the No. 23 Blazers back
on top in the 76th minute when
he took advantage of a deflected
pass in the USC box. The goal was
Rey’s third of the tournament, as
he also had the game-winning
penalty kick in Friday’s 1-0 first
round win over Furman.
But USC’s Jordan Quinn took
less than a minute to tie the game
again when he beat the UAB goal
keeper to a cross by Ryan Barber.
Tied at two, the teams traded
scoring chances until the end of
regulation. USC threatened nu
merous times in overtime and
outshot its opponents 13-8 in the
game, but it was the Blazers who
would have the final say.
“This was a great NCAA
game,” Berson said. “This is what
it’s all about.”
Getman shared the same sen
timent and praised his players for
their gutsy performance.
“I’m very proud of our team for
Joey Worthen fights for the ball in a game against Drury
earlier this season, file photo
fighting through two overtime
games in the NCAA Tournament
and winning them both,” he said.
“It’s very special.”
The Blazers finished the regu
lar season with losses in three of
their last four games, but they
pulled it together this week when
it mattered the most.
“We’ve struggled the last cou
ple of weeks in the regular sea
son,” Getman said.
“We had a lot of injuries and
we really lost our rhythm and a
couple games we probably
shouldn’t have.
“Our feeling coming into this
week was, if we can get through
the first game and get our
rhythm back, that our confi
dence would come back and we
would have a good chance to
keep rolling through the tourna
ment.”
The Blazers will face Clemson
next week in the third round.
Clemson beat Kentucky 1-0 on
Sunday in three overtimes.
Berson and the Gamecocks
will have a tough time getting
over this heartbreaking loss, but
they have nothing to be ashamed
of after a solid year in which they
were ranked week in and week
out.
“You don’t erase a great sea
son with one loss at the end,”
Berson said. “I think this team
has done a great job this year.”
Comments on this story’?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
Volleyball defeats
ACC champ UNC
Lady Gamecocks
end regular
season with win
BY PRESTON BAINES
THE GAMECOCK
The No. 23 USC volleyball team
capped off its regular season in
style, beating ACC tournament
champion and archrival North
Carolina to win the battle of the
Carolinas.
“It was a good match with a lot of
momentum swings,” said USC coach
Kim Christopher. “Offensively, we
played very solid. It was a good
match, a fun match. North Carolina
is a really good team, and it was a
great win for us today.”
The big thr.ee, Cally Plummer,
Yajaira Cadet and Megan Hosp all
contributed to the victory. Plummer
had 13 kills, and Cadet had 12.
Plummer added six aces, while Hosp
had a team-leading 12 digs.
USC (20-5,10-4 SEC) won three
of the four games in the match.
The scores were 30-32,31-29, 30-22
and 30-25.
The first game included many
changes in momentum. UNC got off
to a good start and took a 14-8 lead.
But USC quickly countered with a
big run and took a 25-20 lead.
Then the Tar Heels finished the
game in a flurry to win.
“In the first game, we played
pretty well until the end,”
Christopher said.
As has been the case through
most of the season, USC got stronger
the later it got in the match.
The Gamecocks controlled most
of the second game even though
UNC kept it close throughout. USC
got off to a 5-1 lead, but the Heels
came back to tie it at seven. The
Gamecocks went back out in front
after that and stayed ahead the re
mainder of the game as the teams
traded points.
In the third game, UNC got off
to a quick 5-3 lead but USC came
back quickly to take a 6-5 lead and
the teams traded points until the
Heels took a 10-9 lead. The
Gamecocks then took the lead and
ran away with the game, leading
by as many as nine at one point,
26-17. USC cruised comfortably to
win the game.
The fourth game was nip and
tuck until USC took control at the
end. UNC led early, 4-1, but the
Gamecocks battled back to tie it at
nine. USC would grab the lead un
til the Heels came back to knot the
score at 22.
USC then took final control of
the match on a Nadia Sefferovich
kill that gave the team a 27-24 lead.
It would be all they needed, as they
coasted to a 30-25 lead.
The Gamecocks’ next game will
be in the NCAA Tournament. USC
will find out when and where they
will play at 3 p.m. today.
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gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
Dave Odom is 1-2 in his first year at the helm for South
Carolina, photo b> robert gruen
Duke, UCLA wipe out Gamecocks in Maui
USC wins first
game of tourney,
drops last two to
top-tier teams
BY CHRIS FOY
THE GAMECOCK
They say you can’t truly mea
sure how good a team is until it
plays the best. This past week, the
University of South Carolina
men’s basketball team (1-2) played
in the Maui Invitational against
some of the best teams in the
NCAA. After defeating Chaminade
in the opening round, they dropped
a pair to Top 5 opponents UCLA
and Duke.
USC 74, Chaminade 61
Although his streak of 39 con
secutive starts came to an end,
senior guard Jamel Bradley still
led the way for his team, scoring
17 points in the Gamecocks’ vic
tory over the Silverswords.
Fellow senior guard Aaron Lucas
was second in points scored, with
14. Lucas left the game early,
however, because of heat ex
haustion.
At the half USC had a com
manding 40-23 lead thanks to solid
play and 16 turnovers from the
Silverswords. But Chaminade
wasn’t through, as they pulled
within seven at 66-59 with 1:09 left.
But eight straight free throws, in
cluding six by Bradley, were
enough to put away the
Silverswords for good.
Duke 81, USC 56
With their win over the
Silverswords, the Gamecocks
were matched up in the second
round with the defending national
champion Blue Devils. USC man
aged to tie the game at 25 with 5:12
remaining in the first half, but
Duke went on a 19-0 sun to put the
game out of reach f;>r good. The
Blue Devils went into halftime
with a comfortable 44-25 lead.
Mike Dunleavy, son of former
Gamecock great Mike Dunleavy,
was in charge for the Blue Devils,
scoring a team-leading 24 points,
with 22 coming in the first half. In
fact, Dunleavy’s eight field goals
were more than the Gamecocks hit
(7) in the first half, and he scored
only three less points. USC shot a
meager 29 percent in the half.
In the second half, the
Gamecocks would only be able to
pull within 15 before the Blue
Devils took off again to secure
their 25-point win. Lucas led USC
with 13 points, while Carlos
Powell had 11.
UCLA 89, USC 77
Behind an astonishing 73 per
cent shooting, UCLA put away the
Gamecocks in the consolation
game to go home with third place.
Bruin forward T. J. Cummings led
his team with 25 points and nine
rebounds. The sophomore was ac
curate, too, making 11 of his 12
shots.
After the game, USC head
coach Dave Odom was impressed
with his opponent’s play. “They
were extraordinary in the first
half. I don’t know if I’ve ever had
a team shoot like that against us
in the first half,” Odom said. “I
think when we watch the tape
we’ll find they had a lot of
layups, open looks and easy bank
shots because of our defense. It’s
amazing we were as close as we
were. If that’s not enough to give
you a wakeup call defensively, I
don’t know what would be.”
For the second time in three
games, Bradley was the star for
the Gamecocks. The guard was
six of 12 on three-pointers and fin
ished with 21 points. Powell
notched in 17 points, while Lucas
pulled in 15. Rolando Howell had
six rebounds as well as four
steals.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.