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( g THE GAMECOCK ^Monday, February 18, 2002 (' UVIE SCIIEDCUE V 'V V ■ ^ ^ MEN’S GOLF at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate, Ponte I ■ M \ I ■ill ^ 1 Vedra Beach, Fla., Monday-Tuesday CONTACT US I_^1 I I—< I ’ MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING at the SEC Championships, I I B B "V I i Fayetteville, Ark., Wednesday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I \ #|l IL1 MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. LSU, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com B V_X B B —/ WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at Auburn, 8 p.m. Thursday - ‘ . ..— .. GAMECOCK BASEBALL GOES 3-0 OVER WEEKEND PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN Garris Gonce easily strides over home plate after hitting his third home run of the season on Sunday. USC improves to 6-0 with sweep of ETSU BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE UAMECOCK Friday: USC 14, ETSU 2 The fifth-ranked USC baseball team took on the East Tennessee State Buccaneers in the first of three games Friday at Sarge Frye Field, and the Gamecocks beat ETSU 14-2. • Carolina jumped on the Bucs’ pitchers while starter David Marchbanks (2-0) kept the Bucs’ hats under control through 6 2/3 innings. Carolina got off to a quick start with Garris Gonce and Landon Powell drilling consecutive homers, putting USC up 5-0. ETSU’s two runs came in the third, Marchbanks’ shakiest inning. “I was just trying to throw strikes,” Marchbanks said. “As long as you put a ‘W’ up on the board, that’s all that matters.” The Gamecocks never let up, adding nine more runs. Matt Riddle capped the scoring with a pinch-hit solo homer. Moving into second place on USC’s all-time win list, head coach Ray Tanner said: “Honestly, it nev er entered my mind at all. I don’t belong in the same paragraph as [Bobby Richardson]. I’m just hon ored to be part of the tradition.” Saturday: IJSC 7, ETSU 4 Saturday afternoon, the Gamecocks and Bucs played game two of the weekend set. USC sent senior Chris Spigner (1-0) to the mound to face ETSU’s ace, Reid Casey. After a four-run first, Spigner relaxed, allowing only three hits over the next six innings. The Gamecocks scored three runs for an early rally, two com ing off a Yaron Peters double. The Gamecocks also connected in the fifth inning, as Jon Coutlangus hit a three-run home run. “I was just trying to hit the ball in the air. He gave me a fastball and my eyes lit up,” Coutlangus said. Up 7-4 late, Tanner turned the game over to his bullpen. Tony Adler and Blake Taylor each forced a double play, and Taylor earned his first save of the season. “I knew it was going to be diffi cult,” Tanner said. “But we had nine shots left. If you get down, you know you have time to come back. Spigner settled in and gave us a good effort.” Sunday: USC 14, ETSU 5 The Gamecocks (6-0) completed their sweep of East Tennessee State (0-3) with Sunday’s 14-5 vic tory. The Bucs got on the board ear ly, but USC quickly tied it up. It was easy sailing from there on, as the Gamecocks scored five times in the fifth inning. Gary Bell (2-0) had a strong start, scattering nine hits and al lowing three runs over 5 1/3 in nings. He had seven strikeouts. Carolina’s hitters took batting practice off the Bucs’ pitchers, compiling 16 hits. Peters had an other great outing, going 4-for-4. On his offensive breakout, Peters said: “I’m trying to stay focused, trying to stay with the same ap proach. I’ve been working hard and it’s paying off.” Tanner was pleased with the win. “We played a solid defensive game and were able to mix in a lot of our younger guys,” he said. “We’ve done the things you must do to win. We’re playing as good as we can, but we’ve got a difficult schedule ahead of us.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Game Notes Here are highlights from this weekend’s games: FRIDAY: ♦ Coach Ray Tanner earns 221st victory, moves into second on USC’s all-time wins list ♦ Yaron Peters hits 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs ♦ David Marchbanks scatters six hits in 6 2/3 innings, picking up the win SATURDAY: ♦ Chris Spigner pitches six scoreless innings after four run first inning ♦ Jon Coutlangus hits three run shot to give Carolina the lead for good ♦ Steve Thomas goes 3-for-3 with a pair of singles and a double SUNDAY: ♦ Peters goes 4-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and a walk ♦ Garris Gonce, Landon Powell, Justin Harris and Brian Buscher hit home runs for use Lady Gamecocks lose 72-62 to LSU BY J. KEITH ALLEN THE GAMECOCK The USC women’s basketball team took a step back from its at tempt to claim the SEC lead as they fell to LSU on Sunday 72-62. Carolina head coach Susan Walvius summed up her team’s woes very simply: “This was a frustrating game.” The Lady Gamecocks (21-3,9-2 SEC) were playing without Kelly Morrone. The second-year guard had surgery Saturday to repair a broken finger suffered in last Thursday’s victory over Alabama. Walvius hopes to have the Syracuse, N.Y., native back for the SEC Tournament. The Lady Gamecocks’ trade mark physical play was their un doing Sunday afternoon, as LSU (14-9, 7-5) converted fouls into free throws. The Lady Tigers outscored USC 29-3 from the charity stripe. The game marked the Lady Tigers’ first win over a top 10 opponent all year, and now they can do no worse than a .500 finish in the SEC. Gamecock standout Jocelyn Penn picked up three quick fouls in the first half, which limited her effectiveness in the later stages of the game. Penn would eventually foul out, scoring only eight points. Walvius considered LSU’s foul shooting as one of the keys to the win. “It’s hard to win a game when a team gets to the free-throw line that many times,” Walvius said. USC jumped out to an early 6 2 lead on a Petra Ujhelyi lay-up, only to succumb to an eight point run by the Lady Tigers. The lead changed hands nine times in the opening half. LSU forward Ke-Ke Tardy connected on a jump shot with 2:55 remain ing in the first half to put her team ahead 29-27. Carolina came out of the locker room trailing by one, 33-32, and LSU quickly went on an eight point run. The run was high lighted by a Doneeka Hodges 3 pointer with 14:46 left in the game. The two teams knotted the score five times in the second half, with the Lady Tigers pulling ahead for good on an Aiysha Smith free throw with 2:17 remaining. Shaunzinski Gortman, USC’s forward, was the high scorer for USC, finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds. She was the only Lady Gamecock in double figures. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocKsports@hotma il. com PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN Chuck Eidson nails a three pointer against Alabama this past Wednesday. use falls to other Lady Gamecocks Softball team goes 3-1 at own tournament BY TRAVIS BOLAND THE GAMECOCK The USC softball team played host to its first in-season tour nament this weekend since 1994, the Gamecock Invitational, and the Lady Gamecocks took home the trophy. Unfortunately, it was the wrong set of Gamecocks; the Jacksonville State team of the same name beat USC 2-0 on Sunday afternoon to capture the crown. USC 5, UAB 0 USC started the tournament Saturday afternoon against the UAB Lady Blazers. USC jumped on top early with a run in the first inning when junior Jodi Fittro came around to score on a wild pitch. A Kim Evans sac rifice bunt had moved her into scoring position. USC added three runs in the third when junior Debralee Troesh doubled to lead the in ning. Her double was followed by an Aleca Johnson RBI single. Fittro singled and scored on freshman Meghan Cornett’s RBI triple. Cornett crossed the plate on a wild pitch. Samantha Jennings rounded out the scor ing for the garnet and black with a fifth-inning home run. Megan Matthews pitched all seven in nings, struck out 13 Lady Blazers and posted a shutout. USC 4, Tenn. Tech 1 In Saturday’s nightcap, USC faced off against the Tennessee Tech Lady Golden Eagles. Tennessee Tech started off with a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but USC came roaring back with a run in the second when sopho more Amber Curtis scored on a Troesh double. The game stayed tied until the seventh inning, when Carolina put up three runs to finish off the Lady Golden Eagles. Evans led off the inning with a single and scored on an RBI triple by Cornett. Cornett later scored on a Curtis single. USC was led on the mound by sopho more Stacey Johnson, who pitched seven innings. She al lowed just one run and struck out six. PHOTO BY CHRIS TILLEY The softball team takes the field at the start of the third inning on Saturday. JSU 2, USC 0 Sunday afternoon was the battle of the Gamecocks, be tween USC and Jacksonville State. This game was scoreless until the sixth inning, when JSU put up two big runs on two RBI doubles. USC couldn’t get the bats to come alive against JSU pitcher Veronica Davis, who shut out the Carolina squad. Matthews took the loss, striking out 10 batters in the defeat. USC8, ETSUO In Sunday night’s game, USC faced the East Tennessee State Lady Buccaneers. Carolina’s bats woke up as they scored five runs in the first inning. The rally start ed with three consecutive singles by Fittro, Evans and Cornett. Curtis had a sacrifice fly. Freshman Tia Rogers added an RBI single, then a two-run homer by sophomore Danielle Quinones finished the inning. Fittro and Evans scored in the fifth, and Aleca Johnson scored the eighth run for USC in the sixth inning to finish the game. Stacey Johnson led USC on the mound. She shut out the Lady Buccaneers and struck out 10. The Gamecocks get back to action Wednesday with a dou bleheader against Charlotte at Beckham Field. The first game starts at 3 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Men’s basketball team picks apart Vanderbilt BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK When trying to bounce back af ter a tough loss, hard work and a blowout win on the road can ease the pain. The USC men’s basketball team was devastated by Alabama on Wednesday, but it bounced back Saturday night, stomping the Vanderbilt Commodores 66-43. Carolina (15-10, 5-7 SEC) also avenged an earlier blowout loss to the Commodores (14-11,4-8). USC used a stifling defense to hold Vandy to its season-low 25.5 per cent shooting and its worst defeat in six years. The Gamecocks, on the other hand, shot 41.5 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from behind the arc. “It was nice to come put and play well after the embarrassment - call it what it is - in Columbia,” Gamecocks forward Chuck Eidson said of the Vanderbilt loss earlier this season. “After them coming in and doing what they wanted to do with us in Columbia, we had a very nice game plan put together and really forced them to do some things they didn’t want to do.” Jamel Bradley got his shooting back on track with a game-high 14 points and four 3-pointers. Carlos Powell connected on two of three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points and six rebounds. Eidson also had a strong game, contribut ing 10 points and six rebounds. Vandy was led by Chuck Moore with 13 points. The Gamecocks had to find themselves quickly after Alabama loss, so head coach Dave Odom employed a tough practice Thursday to prepare his team. “I’m a big believer that, to get your team’s attention, you’ve got to do something dramatic,” Odom said. “I think bringing them back to practice on Thursday after a dif ficult, difficult loss and pushing them harder than they thought they could go and having them come through in good fashion made believers out of them today.” The Gamecocks used a 20-2 first half run to stun Vandy early. The Gamecocks applied a stout half-court trap and tight defense in the paint to force turnovers. The turnovers al lowed USC to outscore Vandy 16-0 on fast breaks in the game. After grabbing a 24-10 lead with 6:09 remaining in the first half, the USC defense forced two shot-clock violations. Then, with 1:07 left in the half, Bradley drained a 3-point er and the Gamecocks went into halftime with a 38-20 lead. The Commodores never re sponded in the second half, as both teams went scoreless for the first three minutes. The closest Vandy got was 13 with 13:17 left to play, USC never let up though and cruised to the 23-point win. Vanderbilt came in to the game leading the league in 3-point per centage (38.4 percent), but it was held to 20.7 percent Saturday night by the Gamecocks. League-leading 3-point shooter Kevin Plavich shot a disappointing O-for-6 from behind the arc. Also, the Commodores’ leading scorer, Matt Freije, only managed eight points. The team ' was out-rebounded 41-28. Vandy head coach Kevin Stallings spent most of the game trying to get his team competitive, but he was never successful. “I’m probably about as disap pointed as I’ve ever been about the way my team played,” Stallings said. “It should not be possible for me and my coaching staff to put a team out there that performed the way we did. South Carolina was just better in every way than us.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com