The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 16, 2002, Page 9, Image 9
GAME SCHEDULE
MEN’S BASKETBALL at Arkansas,8 p.m. Wednesday
CONTACT l S WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. No. 2 Tennessee, 7 p.m. Thursday
v SWIMMING AND DIVING at Cincinnati, Friday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? TRACK AND FIELD at Virginia Tech, Saturday
Write us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com MEN'S BASKETBALL vs. Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m. Saturday
USC faces huge SEC showdown
Christina Clocan pulls up for a jumper In Carolina's 71-52 win
over No. 6 Vanderbilt earlier this season, photo by robert gruen
No. 2 Tennessee
at No. 8 USC
7 p.m., Thursday
Carolina Coliseum
Lady Gamecocks
will have crowd
behind them in
sold-out battle
BY COURTNEY KELLER
THE GAMECOCK
The No. 8 USC's women's bas
ketball team will look to im
prove its 12-game winning
streak Thursday when No. 2
Tennessee visits the Carolina
Coliseum for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
The Lady Gamecocks (16-1,4-0
SEC) will have to put their hearts
into this game to stop Tennessee
(14-1,3-0), a dynasty that has won
six national championships in its
history. But USC has its highest
ranking since the 1981-82 season,
when it was ranked No. 2 for three
consecutive weeks.
This matchup will be one of
the biggest SEC showdowns of
the year. Carolina was defeated
last year by Tennessee, but the
Lady Gamecocks are looking for
ward to the challenge.
This game will be especially
huge for senior Teresa Geter, who
was a member of the Lady Vols be
fore transferring to USC in 1999.
Carolina will not only try to
beat Tennessee, but it will also
try to break the attendance
record for women's basketball at
the Coliseum. The current
record is 6,219, set Jan. 15,1981
against UCLA. In an effort to
break the record, all game tick
ets are being sold for $1.
The Lady Gamecocks are
coming off an outstanding vic
tory against Arkansas on
Sunday, when they defeated the
Lady Razorbacks 91-66. Leading
Carolina in scoring was Jocelyn
Penn, who tied her career-high
with 32 points.
"Jocelyn does a fantastic job
for ys," USC head coach Susan
Walvius said.
Shaunzinski Gortman also con
tributed a personal season-high
seven assists against Arkansas,
and Petra Ujhelyi grabbed 13 re
bounds, also a personal season
high. During the game, Carolina
shot a season-high 56 percent,
making 34 of 61 field goals. They
also shot 67 percent from three
point range.
The Lady Volunteers are also
coming off a win in which they
beat the LSU Lady Tigers 79-67.
Tennessee was led in scoring by
Kara Lawson with 17 points and
Michelle Snow with 14.
It has been 20 years since the
Lady Gamecocks have been
ranked in the Top 10 by both the
Associated Press and the coach
es. USC is also ranked third in
RPI and 15th nationally in
strength of schedule.
As the ladies continue to move
up, Walviu&can't understand
how her team is still stuck be
hind two higher-ranked teams
that they've beaten this year, No.
6 Duke and No. 7 Vanderbilt.
"I'm a iittle surprised," Walvius
said. "We beat Vanderbilt and
Duke; I don't understand why
we're not above them. We've
proved ourselves."
Carolina trails Duke by 25
points in the AP ranking, and
Vanderbilt by six.
"We talk about still having
something to prove," Walvius
said. "The team sees our ranking,
that we're steadily moving up.
But, obviously, people still don't
respect us."
Comments on this story? Write
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Gamecocks still looking for first SEC win
. ;
USC at Arkansas
8 p.m., Wednesday
Bud Walton Arena
Fayetteville, Ark.
USC could be 0-3
in conference
with loss to
Razorbacks
BY MATT ROTHENBERG
THE GAMECOCK
Coming off a heartbreaking 51
50 home loss at the hands of
Kentucky on Saturday, the USC
men's basketball team looks to re
group tonight at Bud Walton
Arena in Arkansas against the
Razorbacks.
Carolina (10-5,0-2 SEC) comes
into the game hoping to snap a
two-game losing streak, while
Arkansas (10-5, 2-1) would also
like to get back into the win col
umn after its 75-69 defeat against
LSU on Sunday.
USC's starting guards, Aaron
Lucas and Jamel Bradley, should
have their hands full facing
Arkansas, a veteran squad that
knows how to win.
Razorback senior guards
Jannero Pargo and Brandon Dean
lead the team in scoring with 16.4
and 14.3 points per game, respec
tively. Another senior guard,
Teddy Gipson, is playing quality
minutes off the bench and is
among team leaders in field goal
and three-point field goal per
centages. Adding a touch of youth
among the veterans is freshman
J.J. Sullinger, a Nike All
American and the state of Ohio’s
Co-Player of the Year, who is
third on the team in scoring with
11.7 points per game.
While it's hard to tell how the
Gamecock guards will fare
against Arkansas, the frontcourt
might have it a little easier. For
only the third time this season,
the Razorbacks outrebounded
their opponent, grabbing 34
boards on Sunday compared with
LSU's 27.
Carolina will have a small
height advantage inside, but
Arkansas has plenty of power in
the middle. Senior Dionesio
Gomez leads the team in rebound
ing and field goal percentage while
averaging seven points per game.
♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 10
_r_^
Chuck Eldson shot a combined 3-for-16 In SEC games against Florida and Kentucky. He'll need
to be more accurate for the Gamecocks to survive In Arkansas, photo by robert gRuen
SPURRIER PLEDGES TO PUT A WINNER IN NATION’S CAPITAL
Snyder makes yet
another bad decision
CHRIS FOY
fOYBOY03@HOTMAIL.COM
Coaches with no NFL
experience shouldn’t be
highest paid in league.
So far this year, six NFL
head coaches have received
their pink slips. Some were
deserved. Some weren’t. But
what made this year so
particularly interesting for
owners with freshly vacated
coaching jobs was the fact that
' Steve Spurrier wasun the
market. Many have this
delusion that he will
automatically demonstrate
success at the next level. But
they're supposed to be running
businesses, not football teams.
I found the way Spurrier
landed the job of coaching the
Washington Redskins
unbelievable.
It all starts with the owner.
We all knew Daniel Snyder was
an idiot; you can't keep firing
people in such short periods if
they fall short of perfection. As
Rome wasn't built in a day,
neither was any decent football
teaip, especially one as salary
cap strapped as the 'Skins.
But Snyder did away with
Norv Turner and Terry Robiskie
before hiring Marty
Schottenheimer. Snyder also
didn't make his former coaches'
jobs ^jpy easier by signing all of
his favorite players from the
♦ FOY, SEE PAGE 10
Spurrier to leave decision-making to owner
BY JOSEPH WHITE
AP SPORTS WRITER
WASHINGTON (AP) - Steve
Spurrier took over the
Washington Redskins and im
mediately pledged to return the
team to the greatness it enjoyed
under coach Joe Gibbs.
The former Florida coach also
made it clear Tuesday who was
in charge, saying he was "in com
plete agreement with the way
Dan Snyder wants to run this
team.”
If there's a disagreement with
the yet-to-be-hired general man
ager, Spurrier said he would look
to the owner, Snyder, to resolve
it.
Spurrier, the originator of the
"Fun 'N Gun" offense at Florida,
said he would run the offense
and that "hopefully we'll get an
excellent defensive coordinator
in here.
"That's why I left college - to
see if my style of coaching can
work in the NFL," Spurrier said.
He %id his role model would
be GiSbs, whose Redskins won
three Super Bowls in a dozen sea
sons.
"I don't know if I come can
close to what he did, but certain
ly what he achieved here in his
12 years certainly was excellent,”
Spurrier said.
Spurrier said one of his goals
would be to present a game ball
to Snyder when the Redskins
beat the archrival Dallas
Cowboys.
Snyder replaced coach Marty
Schottenheimer on Monday, giv
ing Spurrier a record 5-year, $25
million deal even though he's
never coached an NFL game.
Schottenheimer will get $10
million for his one 8-8 season, in
which the Redskins became the
first NFL team to go from 0-5 to
5-5. He'll receive the $7.5 million
remaining on the 4-year, $10 mil
lion contract he signed a year
ago, with the Redskins picking
up the difference in contracts if
Schottenheimer signs with an
other team. (
Snyder said he d-dn't have a
beef with SchottenFfc.imer as a
coach. Instead, the two parted
Steve Spurrier talks at his
news conference Thursday.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
ways because Snyder wanted to
regain the final authority over the
makeup of the roster, a bit of pow
er he relinquished to
♦ SPURRIER, SEE PAGE 10
SPORTS
BRIEFS
Track and field team
starts season strong
The USC track and field teams
kicked off the 2002 indoor season
by winning five events on the
women's side and three events
on the men’s side while
collecting three NCAA
provisional marks on the
women's side. The Gamecocks
will compete at the Virginia
Tech Invitational next weekend.
Senior Lisa Barber won the
60-meter dash with an NCAA
provisional time of 7.37 seconds.
Barber was trailed by a trio of
Gamecocks - Aleen Bailey (7.46),
Mechelle Lewis (7.55) and
Khaliah Carpenter (7.58).
Senior Demetria Washington
won the 400 meters with an
NCAA provisional time of 53.%.
Washington also ran the anchor
leg for the 4x400-meter relay
team that won the event with a
time of 3 minutes, 9.30 seconds.
Washington was joined on the
relay by Tacita Bass, Lashinda
Demus and Shevon Stoddart.
On the men's side, Otis Harris
won the 400 at 48.71. Like
Washington, Harris ran the
anchor leg for the 4x400 relay
team that won the event at
8:15.71. James Law, Shamus
Singletary and Jon Fortenberry
joined Harris on the relay.
Also for the Gamecocks,
Otukile Lekote won the 800 at
1:52.89. Tiffany Ross won her
first collegiate race in the 60
meter hurdles with a time of 8.48
- just .04 seconds off an NCAA
provisional mark. Chalsea
Hammond won the high jump at
5 feet, 7 3/4 inches - just a
quarter-inch off the school
record.
1,500 student seats
left for UT game
USC's bid to break its
attendance record for women's
basketball appears to be
successful, asthis Thursday's
game between the No. 8 Lady
Gamecocks and No. 2 Tennessee
is sold out. USC ticket office
officials made the
announcement Tuesday
afternoon.
All tickets available to the
general public, which were sold
at $1 each, have been sold.
There are 1,500 student
tickets, however, that can be
picked up Thursday at the
Carolina Coliseum ticket office.
The office will start giving out
tickets to those with a student ID
starting at 5 p.m.
USC baseball team
returns to diamond
The USC baseball team will
hold its first official team
practice of the season Jan. 17.
The team is coming off a 49-20
record and a final No. 12 ranking
after coming up one game shy of
a College World Series berth.
Preseason All-American
Drew Meyer returns for his
junior season after batting .303
with seven home runs and 37'
RBIs in 2001.
This season's schedule
features 31 games against teams
that participated in the 2001
NCAA Tournament. Carolina
will again play a 30-game SEC
schedule, meeting all members
of the conference three times
with the exception of Auburn.
Among other NCAA
Tournament teams, the
Gamecocks will again meet in
state rival Clemson four times,
Seton Hall three times, The
Citadel twice and VCU, Georgia
Tech and Coastal Carolina once
at the Baseball at the Beach
Tournament in Myrtle Beach
from Feb. 22-24.
USC opens the 2002 season Feb.
8 at 3 p.m. against Charleston
Southern at Sarge Frye Field.
Rugby club team
looking for players
The USC rugby club team has
started practice and is looking
for players. The team practices
Tuesday and Thursday nights
on the band practice field from 7
9 p.m. The squad is seeking all
position players, and no
experience is necessary.