Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, December 3, 2001 GAME SCHEDULE MEN'S BASKETBALL vs. Providence, 7 p.m. Monday WOMEN'S BASKETBALL vs. Temple, 7 p.m. Tuesday MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Georgetown, 7 p.m. Thursday WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Wofford, 2 p.m. Saturday MEN’S BASKETBALL at Clemson, 7 p.m. Saturday . use BASKETBALL TEAMS 3-0 FOR ■ HOME CROWD Jocelyn Penn goes up for two of her 14 total points versus Duquesne on Friday night. The Lady Gamecocks WOn 75-61. PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN Women take 2; beat Syracuse, Duquesne BY BONNIE BERKES THE GAMECOCK Coming off a difficult loss to ri val Clemson on Wednesday night, the Lady Gamecocks were victorious against Duquesne (2 3) Friday night and Syracuse (3-3) Sunday at the Carolina Coliseum. The Lady Gamecocks (6-1) will continue their streak of games against northeast teams when they play host to Philadelphia’s Temple University on Tuesday night at 7. ubu / o, Duquesne bi Carolina led most of the game but fumbled away several early opportunities to put the Lady Dukes away. After building a 12-point half time lead with a 59.3 shooting percentage and aggressive play by junior Jocelyn Penn and se nior Tatyana Troina, the team dwindled early in the second half. USC turnovers led to eight straight points by the Dukes to cut the lead to four points. Duquesne was only six to ten points behind for most of the sec ond half. The Gamecocks com mitted 25 turnovers in the game, most of which were caused by careless passes and poor deci sion-making. “We hdve got to do better job taking care of the basketball. We have got to give better passes. Most of the passes were one handed and unforced,” said USC coach Susan Walvius. USC shot 48.2 percent from the field for the game, compared to 33.3 percent from Duquesne. Senior Candace Futrell led Duquesne with 19 points and was one of three Lady Dukes to score in double figures. With USC’s leading scorer and offensive leader, senior Shaun Gortman, sidelined with a bruised knee, the Gamecocks turned to Penn and senior Tere sa Geter. Geter scored 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and was 10 of-11 from the free-throw line. But it was Kelly Morrone who would finish off the Dukes. Duquesne cut the lead to 54-51 with just more than five minutes left in the second half, but Mor rone answered with a three pointer from the top of the key. The shot sparked a 7-0 run that gave USC another 10-point lead and, along with Geter’s accurate free-throw shooting, pushed the GamecocKs toward tne win. Geter, the game’s top scorer, recorded her fifth career double double with 23 points and 12 re bounds. Walvius was pleased with Geter’s performance and how her squad overcame the ab sence of its top performer. “I’m thrilled about Teresa’s performance tonight. We’ve been waiting for her to come out of her shell. Usually she is more effective on the outside than on the inside, but she did a great job on the inside tonight,” Walvius said. USC 76, Syracuse 58 Sunday’s game saw the re turn of Gortman, and she made her presence known. Gortman’s 20 points and five rebounds got the Gamecocks off and running early against the Orangewomen. Gortman connected for four of ♦ WOMEN, SEE PAGE 8 Men overcome Colorado State in physical game BY PRESTON BAINES THE GAMECOCK South Carolina and Colorado State are more known for football, and you could have mistaken Sat urday’s contest at Frank McGuire Arena for a football game. The two teams played a physical game that ended with Carolina on top, 66-58, despite not playing its best game. “I’m not pleased with how we played,” USC coach Dave Odom said. “But I am pleased with how we won the game. I was pleased with the resiliency of our players. A lot of teams would have folded.” USC (4-2) now begins a most dif ficult week. Carolina plays host to Providence on Monday before play ing a nationally televised game with Georgetown on Thursday night and the annual battle at rival Clemson on Saturday night. znese nexi games are swing games,” Odom said. “I think the most important thing for us is to look ahead.” The Gamecocks had to compete with the Rams (4-3) underneath in order to come away with a victo ry and more than accomplished their task. USC out-rebounded CSU 32-27 but didn’t capitalize af ter capturing many offensive re bounds. “They should take what the de fense gives them and quit trying to muscle the ball inside closer and closer,” Odom said. The senior backcourt combina tion of Jamel Bradley and Aaron Lucas continued to stay hot for the Gamecocks. Bradley had 16 points with four three-pointers, while Lu cas connected for 12 points with two three-pointers. Lucas contin ued to dish the ball well, adding eight assists. Lucas is averaging an outstanding 5.5 assists per game. Carolina led almost the whole game after grabbing an early 4-2 lead. CSU would never tie or take the lead. The Rams pulled within one, 8-7, t:<ti iv un uu ail miuj omey uuee pointer, but USC answered with an 11-2 run sparked by consecutive three-pointers by Bradley and Chris Warren to build a 10-point lead. CSU wasn’t going away. The Rams pulled to within three, 26-23, but USC ended the half in a flurry that was capped off by a last-sec ond three-pointer by junior Chuck Eidson to build the lead to 33-25. Eidson compiled 12 points and three of the Gamecocks’ 11 steals. Turnovers may have been the dif ference in the game, as Carolina forced 22 of them. Eidson feels the team needs to step up the consistency. “At times we showed that we’re a really good ball club, and certain times we showed we still need a lot of work,” Eidson said. “It was a physi cal game, but that’s just part of it. I Tony Kitchings and Marius Petravicius team up for two points in the second half of Carolina's win over Colorado State Saturday night, photo by candi hauglum Providence at USC 7 p.m. Monday at the Carolina Coliseum TV: Fox Sports Net Radio: 560-AM WVOC think we just got caught up in it and tried to play physical with them, too, which certain times you have to do.” The Gamecocks got a scare ear ly in the second half when CSU charged back to trail 35-33. Caroli na then pulled away with a 17-5 run off turnovers and easy bas ♦ MEN, SEE PAGE 8 Michael Boynton works to contain a Colorado State guard. PHOTO BY AARON HARK BY PRESTON BAINES THE (iAMECOCK While they were Florida fans Saturday, the South Carolina Gamecocks have quickly become Tennessee fans. After the Vol unteers’ upset of the Gators, USC now needs a Tennessee win to ensure the best possible outcome for their bowl selection. Though Florida dropped to sixth in both major polls, it still remains a likely candidate for a Bowl Championship Series bowl, most likely the Orange Bowl. If Tennessee defeats the LSU Tigers in Saturday’s SEC Cham pionship game, the Vols have a very good shot at making the na tional championship game. If they lose, they would not only drop in the polls, but the likeli hood of both UF and UT playing in BCS bowls be comes almost zero. The Citrus Bowl is renowned 1UI UCUlg U1C mv/oi prestigious non- Holtz BCS bowl game. Michigan got the Big 10 bid for the third time in four years. The SEC selection will have to wait until af ter the SEC Championship game. If Tennessee wins, then the Game cocks will likely be the highest ranked SEC team remaining. However, if the Tigers pull off an upset, then it would give the West team the best SEC spot, which will knock every other team in the con ference down one spot, if not more. * USC can still compete with Florida for a bid, as a team can still be selected if it is one loss behind the leader. As of right now, the most likely results of a Tennessee win would have the Vols at the top spot followed by Florida, USC, Georgia and LSU. USC head coach Lou Holtz knows this weekend will have major implications but still is happy with the opportunity to go to a bowl. “We would be grateful to any bowl that would take us,” Holtz said. “Each year is different. You have to make great preparation and hope that you play well. I don’t think Tennessee beating Florida changes our situation that much. However, if Ten nessee loses in the SEC Champi onship gamd; then that could have some bearing on which bowl game we would go to.” Other possible bowls with SEC selections include the Out back Bowl in Tampa, Fla., the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Tex., and the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Ga. The Peach would seem like the most logical destination be cause Ohio State has accepted an Outback bid and bowl officials usually do not like to schedule the same matchup in consecu tive years. If the Gamecocks were headed to Atlanta, there would be a battle of the Caroli nas against North Carolina, which accepted a bid Saturday. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.cam. Lou Holtz expects Skip to remain at Carolina ASSOCIATED PRESS South Carolina football coach Lou Holtz expects to have offensive coordinator Skip Holtz on the side line and Derek Watson in the back field next season. Holtz said Friday that after talk ing with his son, he expected him to remain with the Gamecocks instead of taking the head coaching job at Southern Methodist. “I know Skip had great interest and they had great interest,” Holtz said. “But after talking with him, I think he’s going to stay here.” That’s also probably the case for Watson, who talked of leaving early for the NFL when he ran for 1,066 yards as a sophomore. But after a junior season with only 591 yards rushing, Holtz expects Watson to re turn for his final year. “Yeah, I would assume,” Holtz said. “But, yeah, I assumed my wife would marry me the first time, and I was wrong.” Holtz said he would meet with Watson on Saturday. Watson’s season wasn’t every thing he wanted, Holtz said, because the junior spent much time during the offseason recovering from off field incidents that led to two sus pensions from the team. “I think Derek had so many things he had to do this summer that Derek really could not work out run ning and in agility drills, ft hurt him somewhat this year,” Holtz said. “I think he’s still a great football player and would do really well in the NFL. Still, f’d like to see him come back.” The Gamecocks (8-3) closed the reg ular season Nov. 17 with a 20-15 win over Clemson and are awaiting a bid to the Citrus, Outback or Peach bowls. “I don’t know who we’re going to play, I don’t know where we’re go ing to go,” Holtz said.