The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 06, 2002, Page 10, Image 10
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. ■