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GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT IIS MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. LSU, 7:30p.m. Wednesday UkJ SOFTBALL vs. Charlotte, 3 p.m. Wednesday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN'S BASKETBALL at Auburn, 8 p.m. Thursday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com BASEBALL at Myrtle Beach tournament, Friday-Sunday Time running out for USC LSU at USC 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Frank McGuire Arena Radio: WVOC 560 AM Second-to-last men’s game at Coliseum to be played tonight BY STEVE SHULER THE GAMECOCK 'fc. . A battle with postseason im plications will take place tonight as the USC men’s basketball team plays host to the LSU Tigers. While neither team is in very good standing to make the NCAA Tournament, both teams are look ing to secure strong regular-sea son finishes and make one last run at March Madness. Carolina (15-10,5-7 SEC) looks as if it is heading toward the National Invitation Tournament for the second season in a row. That might appear to be .a disap pointment for USC, as expectations were very high at the beginning of the season with the hiring of head coach Dave Odom. However, for LSU (14-11,4-8), the NIT would be a respectable finish to a season fraught with inconsistency. The Tigers started SEC play with a 12-3 overall record and had lost two of those games by only one point. However, they have faltered in conference play, which has in cluded a six-game losing streak. The Gamecocks have also been plagued by inconsistent play this season. Like LSU, Carolina came into conference play 12-3. In the SEC, however, Carolina hasn’t been able to string two wins to gether all season long. Its longest streak of any kind in the confer ence was a two-game losing skid. LSU comes into tonight’s game on a two-game winning streak. Last Wednesday, the Tigers de feated Mississippi State 68-65 in overtime. They followed that win with a 67-63 victory at Arkansas, where junior forward Ronald Dupree scored 30 points. Carolina is coming off a 66-43 win at Vanderbilt, where it held the Commodores to its lowest scoring total in four years. The key for LSU tonight could be the Dupree’s shooting. Dupree is third in the SEC in scoring, with 17.6 points per game. His play has been remarkably consistent, as he has scored at least 10 points in all 12 of L&U’s conference games. Dupree will have to deal with a tough Carolina defense tonight, however. TheGamecocks are al lowing a conference-best 61.2 points per game, and that has a lot to do with their ability to force turnovers. The Gamecocks are second in the conference in turnover margin (4.7) and third in the SEC in steals (10.2). Carolina will hope to find con sistent shooting. The Gamecocks are 8-3 this season when they score at least 70 points. Jamel Bradley leads Carolina in scoring with 13.8 points per game. Marius Petravicius is first on the team in shooting percentage, at 51.6 percent However, Petravicius only shoots an average of five times per game. Carolina leads the all-time series against LSU 8-5. However, the teams have-only met seven times since the Gamecocks joined the SEC in 1992. The last time these teams met was last season, when Carolina defeat ed the Tigers 68-56 in Baton Rouge. Jamel Bradley led the way with 25 points, as the Gamecocks shot 43 percent from the field. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com r .. m ...a ._ j PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN The USC men’s basketball team faces LSU tonight. Jamel Bradley has been Carolina's most reliable offensive player, averaging 13.8 points per game. Softball team to face Charlotte Charlotte at USC 3 p.m. Wednesday Beckman Reid USC looking for strong showing after tourney BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK The 22nd-ranked USC softball team will face off against Charlotte this afternoon in a dou bleheader at Beckham Field. Carolina (7-3) is looking to con tinue its early season success after going 3-1 at the Gamecock Invitational this past weekend. Charlotte started its season at the Triangle Classic in Raleigh, N.C., last weekend, going 5-2. USC leads the all-time series 21-2 and last played Charlotte in 2000. That year, Carolina swept a doubleheader. Charlotte coach Aimee DeVos is bringing a good mix of youth and veteran leadership to Columbia. Offensively, three of her seniors are leading the way offensively. Third baseman Leah Heston was named Conference USA Hitter of the Week after starting off with an average of .524 through seven games. She has seven RBIs and four doubles, both of which lead the team. Outfielder Kiley Scott is also playing well. She is batting .333 with two doubles. Stephanie Dunlop is performing well at the plate, with a double and home run among her seven hits. The 49ers are playing solid defense as well, with only four errors to their credit. DeVos is going to rely on a pair of junior pitchers. Becky • Thompson, Charlotte’s ace, is 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA. She is second on the team with 12 strikeouts. The other junior, Amy Morse, has sim ilar statistics. She is 1-1 with a 0.67 ERA and leads the 49ers with 13 strikeouts. If need be, DeVos can turn the ball over to a couple of young sters. Freshman Shannon Carson (1-1, 0.11 ERA) and sophomore Dana Bowers (1-0) have had quality outings thus far. The Lady Gamecocks will have to continue their strong hitting performance from this weekend, The Lady Gamecock softball team faces the Charlotte 49ers today at 3 p.m. The two teams ! will play a double header, and USC hopes to improve on its 7-3 record. PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN when, in four games, they nearly compiled as much hits as they did in their first six. Second baseman Debralee Troesh is leading the Lady Gamecocks in hitting with a .345 average. Kim Evans and Samantha Jennings are second and third, hitting .333 and .312. Freshman Meghan Cornett leads the team with three triples so far this season. Charlotte’s hitters will have to deal with a tough Carolina pitching staff. Senior Megan Matthews continues to baffle hitters each time out. She is 4-1 with a 0.38 ERA, compiling 46 strikeouts over her five starts. Stacey Johnson is the second half of USC’s 1-2 punch. She is 3 2 with a 1.25 ERA and has 28 strikeouts. Overall, the Lady Gamecock pitchers have held their opponents to a .182 batting average this season, and their cumulative ERA of 0.70 is the best in the conference. The first pitch of the double header is slated for 3 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com USC looking to rebound at Auburn & USC at Auburn 8 p.m. Thursday Beard-Eaves Arena BY JAMES STARNES THE GAMECOCK The 10th-ranked USC women’s basketball team will be looking to rebound when it travels to Auburn to take on the Lady Tigers on Thursday night. Carolina (21-4,9-3 SEC) is com ing off a tough 72-62 loss at LSU last Sunday, in which it had op portunities to win but could not come through. Auburn (13-11, 2-10) is wrap ping up a dismal season that be gun with a promising 10-0 record. Since that time, it has went 3-11, only winning two games in the conference. The Lady Tigers are currently in the middle of a sev en-game slide, and they’ve only, lost one of those games by less than 10 points. One bright note for Auburn, however, has been the play of sophomore forward Le’Coe Willingham, who has been a ma chine lately. Willingham has only missed 16 minutes out of the last seven g^es. In four of the last six games, she has not sat at all. Willingham has also scored in double-figures for the last nine games. She has led the Lady Tigers in scoring five of the last six games and in rebounding six of the last seven. Senior guard Carol Smith hit two 3-pointers in Auburn’s loss to Arkansas last Sunday, moving her to seventh on the school’s all time list. With only two games left, things do not get any easier for the Lady Tigers. After the USC game, they finish the season in Nashville this Sunday against No. 7 Vanderbilt. Despite a subpar season, Auburn should not be taken too lightly. Th& Lady Tigers have shown at times this year that they have talent, capturing a win over No. 25 Florida State and only los ing by five to No. 4 Iowa State. The Lady Gamecocks will be looking to rebuild the momentum that LSU deflated from them last weekend. With Teresa Geter back in the lineup and Shaunzinski Gortman coming into her own as of late, Carolina appears to be primed to do just that. Gortman has led the team in rebounding the past four games and in scor ing three of the past four. She recorded a season-high 24 points against Alabama last Thursday. USC finishes the season at home against Ole Miss this Sunday. With two games remaining, the Lady Gamecocks trail Tennessee by two games for the SEC standings. The Lady Vols, however, won the only meeting between the two teams, meaning that in case of a tie, they would claim the conference ti tle. USC could do itself a huge favor, though, by staying ahead of Vanderbilt, which is one game back. For USC, the road to the SEC Tournament goes through Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Carolina could make it a little eas ier on itself by winning these last two regular-season games. A cou ple of victories would ensure an easy draw in the first two rounds. The SEC Tournament will take place in Nashville, Tenn., and runs Feb. 28 through March 3. Comments on this story?E mail gamecocksportsCqihotmail.com Olympic nagging starting to get old CHRIS FOY GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Just shut your mouths, grow up, and go out there and do what you’re there for. I must confess: I haven't watched much of the Winter Olympics. I know, I know. It's a travesty. But if I had the time, I would. They're actually pretty cool. Who doesn't swell up with pride every time the good ol’ US of A brings in another gold? But if there was one 'sport' that I have never been too much a fan of, it would have to be ice skating. Great if we win, "we skated?" if we lost. And I know I'm not alone in these sentiments. Dancing on ice isn’t the same as skating on ice and trying to knock a puck into the net. Brian Boitano doesn't go in my all-time great athlete list. But I have noticed a trend in Olympic skating. In two of the past three Winter Olympics, scandal has made the sport much more popular. Tonya Harding's skating, after her thuggish redneck boyfriend tried to take off Nancy Kerrigan's kneecaps, was one of the most popular television viewings of all time. And, of course, the whole world was mused by her waterworks. This year, scandal hit again. And, shock, the French had something to do with foul play. I didn't see it live, but thanks to the beauty of replay, it's clear that the Canadians beat out the n_ XV But, of course, it's not that simple. Thank you very much, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, for trading your vote to help out France. I thought the judges were supposed be fair and impartial. But instead, we have a situation of vote "swapping," where Le Gougne allegedly, under pressure from her national federation, gave her vote away. Give me a break. What kind of crap is this? It doesn't matter that the International Skating Union rectified things Sunday night; the Olympics have turned into a global stage for whining. Wayne Gretzky got into this whining mess yesterday. Because of "American propaganda," Canadian hockey gets no respect. Get over it, Wayne. The Canadian papers are doing that reporting, not the ones in the U.S. (where Mr. Gretzky has resided since 1988). Don't get me wrong. I've got no beef with Gretzky. I just think he has no basis for this complaint. What all this boils down to is, how serious do we have to take these games? I can assure you that the games' founders wanted the talking to be done on the playing field, not everywhere else. Keeping up this kind of nonsense crap is going to start World War III before long. Which is particu larly absurd when you consider these events were formed to promote international goodwill in friendly competition. They're just games. There's no need to cry scandal. There's no need to trade votes. There's enough global conflict in the world already. Just let them play the games. There are more important things to worry about. Like catching up to the Germans in the medal count. Foy is a third-year management j student.