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® THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, November 11,2002 _ 7 “| \ m pN GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US l-^l I k/ I MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Latvia’s Unibanka Cesis (exhibition), Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I I L / SWIMMING AND DIVING at Florida, 4 p.m. Friday E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com ■ 1 rV-/ VOLLEYBALL at Florida, 5 p.m. Friday V USC embarrassed in home finale Shutout loss to Arkansas puts bowl game in doubt BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The USC football team’s seniors walked off the field devastated on Saturday with a half-empty stadi um. It was all the team could do af ter falling to the Arkansas Razorbacks 23-0 at Williams-Brice Stadium. The Gamecocks (5-5,3-4 SEC) were held scoreless for the first time since Sept. 25,1999, at Mississippi State. It was one disappointing after noon for the players, coaches and 79,307 fans wjio were celebrating Senior Day. And bowl hopes for the Gamecocks are beginning to dwindle, with only games ic maining on the schedule. Carolina still needs one more win to be bowl-eligible. “I thought we’d be successful to day,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said. “It just seemed like every thing went against us today.” Holtz took con trol of the offense this week, taking the reins from of Head coach Lou Holtz took control of the offense Saturday, but it made little difference for USC. tensive coordinator bkip Hoitz. But the team continued to strug • gle moving the football. “I have to look at myself,” Lou Holtz said. “I’ve never had trouble having an offense that can move the football. I’m not faulting the players. I’m not faulting the re ceivers. I’m faulting myself.” The 65-year-old head coach called all the offensive plays in hopes of turning the passing game around. “One thing I’ve always had great confidence in is you can find a way to move the football,” he said. “We are finding a way to move the football on the ground, but you cannot be a one-dimen sional team." Senior quarterbacks Corey Jenkins (10-for-23 passing) and Erik Kimrey (3-for-8), combined for 89 yards passing and three in terceptions — all of which led to Arkansas points. The Gamecocks threw the ball 31 times as they tried to make a comeback. Unfortunately for USC, none of the completions went for more than 20 yards. The big-play threat once again was missing from the offense, though the running game picked up 144 yards on the day. USC used four running backs in hopes of finding a spark. Kenny Irons led the team with 32 yards but carried the ball only three times. Andrew Pinnock rushed only seven times for 25 yards in his final home game. Mistakes and frustration plagued the team the entire day and were just too much for Carolina to overcome. The Gamecocks were penalized nine times for 85 yards. “Once something goes against us, we just don’t seem to rally back,” Holtz said. “We make too many errors.” Jonathan Martin and Moe Thompson led the defense with sev en tackles each. The defense had trouble making big plays and forc ing turnovers. “As a defensive unit, I think we played hard, but we still gave up big plays when we shouldn’t have,” comerback Dunta Robinson said. USC began the day with a great opening drive led by Pinnock, but the drive stalled and Daniel Weaver missed a 42-yard field goal to begin the frustration. After Jenkins’ first intercep tion, Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones threw a 4-yard strike to George Wilson to put the Razorbacks up 7-0. Kicker David Carlton added a 43-yard field goal to make it a 10-point game going into halftime. In the third quarter, Arkansas punted on its first possession, but USC was charged with roughing the kicker. The penalty gave the Razorbacks a first down on the 50 yard line and, three plays later, Jones found Carlos Ousley for a 47-yard touchdown. Arkansas added two more field goals to put the game out of reach. Arkansas (6-3,3-3) did its dam age on the ground as it rushed for 200 yards against the USC de fense. Fred Talley had 80 yards rushing, and backup De’Arrius Howard gained 72, including a 35 yard scamper that he nearly scored on. Jones was 10-for-18 through the air, with 113 yards passing and two touchdowns. Arkansas did not turn the ball over. The loss left the Gamecocks short on words and with lots to fig ure out. “After today, what do we do? I don’t know,” Skip Holtz said. “I think we need to highlight our tal PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK James Adkisson accounted for USC’s longest pass play Saturday — a meaningless 20-yard reception In the fourth quarter of Carolina’s 23-0 shutout loss to Arkansas. " GAME 10 A. Arkansas o? (6-3,3-3 SEC) SS use o (5-5,3-4) | THE QUOTE “I feel bad for the fans. They deserve better. I am frustrated; I've got to look at myself, where we are.” LOU HOLTZ use HEAD COACH - THE PLAY Matt Jones' 47-yard touchdown pass to Carlos Ousley in the early minutes of the second half put Arkansas up comfortably 17-0. With the Gamecocks’ offensive inadequacies, it would have been tough for USC to make up even a 10-point deficit-a 17-point deficit would be close to impossible. THE STAT ] 8 With three picks on Saturday, USC quarterbacks have thrown eight interceptions in the past three games. USC’s passing attack has turned into one of the worst in the nation. ents and abilities.”^ Carolina must regroup once again and head to Gainesville next Saturday to play the Florida Gators in the Swamp. The Gamecocks finish their reg ular season at Clemson on Nov. 23. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Athletes in ft1 Action bl USC 94 BY NICK YOUNG THE GAMECOCK The USC women’s basketball team is out to prove that last sea & son, when it advanced to the Elite ^ Eight of the NCAA Tournament, was no fluke. Already, it is begin ning to make good on that mis sion. Jocelyn Penn started the pre season off with a bang as she scored a game-high 40 r*r»intc in Fridav’s r~~—- l 94-61 exhibition victory against Athletes in Action at the Carolina Coliseum. “We were just trying to go out and work on our offense tonight,” Penn said. “Ever and did their part.’ Penn 'one went out j__ __a -1 uiie player iu «**u wvj her part — and a little more — was junior point guard Cristina m Ciocan, who scored 31 points and ^ had 13 assists. “I just tried to show up and help my team’s scoring by passing,” Ciocan said. “Even though I had 13 assists, there were still a lot of passing opportunities I missed in the game.” Even though Penn and Ciocan combined for 71 points, the Gamecocks couldn’t put the game away in the first half. The score re mained close in the period, and there were many lead changes. The Gamecocks looked ner vous, sloppy and tired at times during the early stages of the game. USC had eight turnovers in the first half, and most of those came in the first 10 minutes. After a 19-2 Carolina run, the score was 27-10 with 10:52 to go in the first half. It seemed as if a blowout was in order. But AIA used a few scoring runs of its own to bring the score to 41-36 at half time. “I thought we got a little care less with the basketball at times,” USC head coach Susan Walvius said. “Early, I thought we looked a little tight — it was one pass and a shot.” As well as the team did, it strug gled in a few areas. Rebounding was a large problem, as AIA held the rebounding edge 41-30. The Gamecocks did manage to grab a 19-17 rebound advantage in the second half, however. “I’m worried about the re bounding,” Walvius said. “I feel like the rebounding situation is just the fundamental of blocking out. “Tonight, we were watching the shot more than going to the bas ket and blocking out our oppo nent. We’ve got to work harder on getting position. If AIA out-re bounds us, then every team in the SEC is going to.” Another problem the team faced was a lack of depth. Only seven of USC’s 10 players dressed out for the game. One of the players missed was junior Kelly Morrone. Morrone suffered a broken nose two weeks ago in practice. But she should re turn this week, Walvius said. “She’ll be back at practice Tuesday or Wednesday, so we’ll see her in the next exhibition game,” Walvius said. “That’s go ing to help us out and give us a lit tle more depth.” In the next exhibition game, USC will be looking for a third scorer behind Penn and Ciocan. No other player had more than nine points in Friday’s game. “Sarah Burgess has been one of our most consistent shooters in practice,” Walvius pointed out. “She was tight tonight, but she’ll be a good one for us,” Walviusadded: “We want to get Petra Ujhelyi more involved, and when Kelly comes back, she can step in and score for us.” Carolina’s next home exhibi tion will be Nov. 17 against a team from Stockholm, Sweden, at 2 p.m. in the Carolina Coliseum. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO BY MARK BISSET/THE GAMECOCK USC point guard Cristina Ciocan shoots over a player from Athletes In Action during Friday night’s exhibition. Ciocan scored 31 points and added 13 assists in the 94-61 USC win. BRIEFLY swimming teams stomp Clemson ■ The USC’s swimming and diving teams defeated in-state rival Clemson at the Carolina Natatorium on Friday. The men’s team (3-1,1-0) won with a score of 152-91, and the women’s team (3-1,1-0) won with a score of 149-94. On the men’s side, eight swimmers bettered'their indi vidual bests, and five set team highs for the season. Ed Murphy set a personal best in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of46.55 seconds. Lir Derieg set the new standard for the year in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1 minute, 52.49 seconds. Chris McCrary set the mark in the 200 butterfly in 1:50.79, and Brandon Buslepp’s time of 1:55.02 is the new high mark for the 200 individual medley. The Gamecocks also placed in the top three spots in the 1,000-yard freestyle, with Tim Farrington setting a season best time of 9:41.58. The women’s team com bined to set five personal-best records and four team highs. Winning two events for the second week in a row was freshman Stephanie Margalis, who won the 500-yard freestyle (4:56.17) and the 1,000-yard, freestyle (10:04.41). Heather Skaggs won the 100 and 200 freestyle, and Ryan Smith and Kristen Butler set personal bests in the 200 backstroke. Other individual winners were Bronwyn Dedekind (200 but terfly), Anna Nyiry (50 freestyle) and the 400-freestyle relay team of Skaggs, Nyiry, Carolyn McHugh and Jennifer VanAssen. In the diving portion of the meet, the women took first through fourth on the 1-meter springboard and first through third on the 3-meter spring board. The men, anchored by Andy Bradley’s fourth straight win, placed first as a team in both categories as well. unristopner wins 200th career match The 18th-ranked USC volley ball team handed head coach Kim Christopher her 200th Carolina win Friday night as the Gamecocks swept the Tennessee Lady Vols 3-0. The Gamecocks (20-4, 13-1 - SEC) held the Lady Vols (17-9,6 7) to their lowest point output of the season (46). Niece Curry led the Gamecocks with 13 kills and a .684 hitting percentage, while Cally Plummer had 11 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. The win also gives the Gamecocks their third straight 20-win season — their eighth under Christopher. USC also earned its 13th SEC win, mark ing the most conference wins it has had in a single season. Men’s soccer loses at North Carolina The USC men’s soccer team fell to defending NCAA cham pion North Carolina Tar Heels 2-0 Friday at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C. North Carolina (13-5-1) took a 1-0 lead in the first half when Marcus Storey knocked in the ball from 5 yards out at the 37:29 mark. Ryan Kneipper and David Testo assisted on Storey’s goal. Late in the second half, USC scored an own goal in the 86th minute when Mike Gell’s shot deflected off a Gamecock de fender. USC (10-7-1) had eight shots on goal but was unable to capi talize on them. The Gamecocks wrap up their regular season Sunday at 2 p.m. when they play host to Florida International. The Gamecock won last year’s matchup 5-4 in double over time. The Gamecocks-Golden Panthers showdown is also Senior Day. USC will honor its senior class prior to kickoff.