University of South Carolina Libraries
10 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, Febraury 6, 2002 CONTACT US W0MEN.S Bfls 1K S'1:111 h 1 ’1 LK WOMEN S BASKETBALL vs. Georgia, 7 p.m. Thursday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING at Florida St.,.Saturday E-mail us at gamecocksports&hotmail.com TRACK AND FIELD at the Meet of Champions (NYC), Saturday Carolina unable to contain No. 8 Honda |jjp Florida 72 ^ USC 63 USC unable to keep run going after 9-1 lead BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK Despite valiant efforts for a comeback Tuesday evening at the Frank McGuire Arena, the USC men’s basketball team fell to No. 8 Florida 72-63. Carolina went ahead early, but surrendered a lead to the Gators that it could not regain. The story for this game was the poor offensive appear ance for the Gamecocks. They only shot 34.4 percent from the field, compared to the 53.2 percent by Florida. Carolina ran out to a 9-1 lead by the first official timeout, pow ered by five points from Jamel Bradley, who, with Chuck Eidson, had 14 points to lead uog, vjameuutn iieciu uuaun Dave Odom praised his squad's play at the beginning, saying, "I thought we had a great start. We had a lot of energy early." Florida's Udonis Haslem led a Gator rally, adding six points, while sharpshooter Brett Nelson gave them the lead for good with five points to make the score 25 20 midway through the first half. Justin Hamilton then kicked it into gear, providing seven of Florida's points in a 14-7 run to close out the half leading 39-27. The Gamecocks knew they needed to shake off the rust if they were to make it a game in the second half. They shot only 33.3 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from behind the arc. Florida got more points in the paint (18-12) and more points off turnovers (12-5), while shooting 60.7 percent. Eleven turnovers in the first half didn't help the Gamecocks either. As they pulled out of the gate in the second half, it seemed as if the Gamecocks were going to make a run. Eidson had five points to spark an 11-5 rally. Carolina was within six, but held scoreless over the next three min utes while Florida built an 11 point lead. The Gamecocks wouldn't back down, as Eidson hit a 3-pointer and Marius Petravicius provided five points to pull within five. Petravicius was vicious on the boards, grab bing seven rebounds. Florida then scored nine unanswered points to stretch its lead to 14. The Gamecocks would come close, but the Gators sank their free throws in the final min utes. Bradley hit a 3-pointer for USC in the final seconds, but it was too late. "We felt like we were focused going in," Bradley said. "You've got to give credit to Florida. We just got to refocus ourselves ... and get ready for Tennessee." The Gamecocks had plenty of good looks at the basket, but they couldn't get the shots to go down. They also took 24 3-point ah tempts, which Odom believed was more than they should have. "We had a lot of open shots that, at this level, you have to make," he not ed. Nevertheless, the Gamecocks must get ready for a Tennessee team with revenge on its mind af ter a 34-point thrashing in Knoxville two weeks ago. Odom will have his men ready for the challenge, knowing they will be facing a different team. "We got to turn attention to ourselves. We haven't had a day off in two weeks," he said. "We're trying to get ready for Saturday night against Tennessee. The team we played in Knoxville wasn't the real Tennessee. We’re starting at ground zero for that game. Let's win the next one and move on from there." Tipoff for Saturday's game at the Frank McGuire Arena is 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on FoxSports South. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Women’s team to take on Georgia No. 22 Georgia at No. 9 USC 7 p.m. Thursday at the Carolina Coliseum Radio: WVOC 560 AM BY STEVE SHULER THE GAMECOCK For the first time in over ten years, the USC women’s basket ball team (18-3,6-2 SEC) is within grasp of a 20-win season. With six games remaining, the ninth-ranked Lady Gamecocks can move one step closer to that mark Thursday night, when they play host to No. 22 Georgia (15-6,4 5 SEC). Thursday night's game marks the second meeting be tween these two teams in less than a month. Carolina won the last contest 71-64 in Athens. Since then, the Lady Gamecocks have gone 3-2, with losses to Tennessee and Arkansas. However, Carolina is coming off a huge 69-59 win over Florida on Sunday in Gainesville. That win tied the school record for conference wins in a season. Georgia, meanwhile, has won only three of its last seven games, including two losses to Mississippi State by a combined three points. The Lady Bulldogs defeated Kentucky 76-50 in their most recent game. Thursday night's game, which tips off at 7 p.m., will feature two of the best defensive teams in the conference. Georgia and Carolina are ranked first and second, re spectively, in opponents field goal percentage. Georgia also leads the conference in blocked shots with 7.1 per game, while Carolina leads in steals with 13.5 per game. Turnovers have hampered the Lady Bulldogs all season long, and Carolina's stingy de fense should pose a challenge to head coach Andy Lander's club. This game will feature two out standing frontcourt players. For the Lady Gamecocks, ju nior forward Jocelyn Penn leads the offense with 17.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. She is seventh nationally in shooting percentage at 63.5 percent and was recently recognized as one of the "Faces To Watch" in the Feb. 4 edition of Sports Illustrated. Penn was lauded for her stellar play against the Lady Gators, when she scored 29 points on 13 of 16 shooting. On the other side of the ball is Georgia freshman center Kara Braxton. Braxton leads the Lady Bulldogs with 17.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Should history repeat itself, this game would favor the Lady Bulldogs, who possess an 18-3 record against the Lady Gamecocks, including an 8-1 mark in Columbia. However, Carolina hasn't taken much no tice of history this season. Its win at Florida on Sunday was the first over the Lady Gators since the 1991-92 season, and its earlier wins at Mississippi State and Georgia marked the first time USC had won at those campuses. USC has secured its first win ning season since 1995-96, and it is close to its first 20-win season since 1991-92, when it was coached by Nancy Wilson. In hopes to increase atten dance for women’s basketball games, the university is offering a special two-for-one ticket sale for tomorrow night's game, as well as for the Feb. 14 game against Alabama and the Feb. 24 regular-season finale against Ole Miss. The school hopes that a full Carolina Coliseum will go a long way to ensure a strong finish for the Lady Gamecocks. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockspqrts@hotmail. com Sophomore guard Cristina Clocan goes up for a layup against Ole Miss. ft it Rams are good, but no dynasty CHRIS FOY F0YB0Y03@H0TMAIL.C0M Dynasty reign is a thing of the past with players valuing their paychecks more than team loyalty. All of the big talk going into this past Sunday’s game between the Patriots and the Rams was about how this could officially mark a St. Louis dynasty. That they could be put among the elite of the NFL's storied history. But New England had their way, and as a team beat a team that had the third-highest spread in Super Bowl history. But how did they do it? With nothing more than a simple game plan. Luck had nothing to do with it. As a devout 49ers fan, I cannot stand the Rams. I think they’re overrated. I think they're arrogant. And I always love to see them lose. Any team that goes from rags to riches as fast as they do and act like they've been there for the longest time deserves to be smacked around until they've been humbled again. But in light of these things, I was about to give in ana aamit tneir sneer dominance. Then the Patriots simply exposed the real St. Louis. It finally occurred to me that the Rams’ success has nothing to do with the best players, or the best game plans — it only has to do with speed and rhythm. And if you can disrupt that, you can beat them. Of course, you have to have a solid, clean game plan to accomplish this, but that’s all it really takes. If Kurt Warner gets enough pressure in the pocket and Marshall Faulk is covered, that's it — they have no where to go. Warner is no Steve Young or Donovan McNabb; he's just a pure passer. And his game is based on timing. You're probably asking where I'm going with all of this. Just think, if the Rams' greatness is based on a fine line of hitting targets on cue or not, does that rank them among the best of all time? No. Without taking away from the Rams offense, which can be argued as one of the greatest of all time, they don't rank among the elite. Imagine the great Super Bowl teams: the '85 Bears, the '89 49ers, the 70's Steelers. Could you really imagine the Rams taking them out? They didn't dominate Tennessee two years ago, and escaped with only a seven-point victory. Their defense imploded last year, but even with a revamped one, they weren't able to stop the Patriots in this year's big game. But perhaps St. Louis is the closest thing we'll ever see to a dynasty in the new age of the NFL. Players care more about money than team. And while the salary cap is a brilliant tool to achieve parity (assuming you have management who can play that game), it will probably prevent dynasties from occurring. With free agency, the league is on a year-by-year basis. No one saw Chicago or New England finishing where they did. Dynasties are built on having a core team that can have an additional player come in and out through the reign. But this is the new NFL. And until players put pride in their team first and paycheck second, each year the title is going to be a free for all. Foy is a third-year management student. ■