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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, February 7, 2003 7 GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US BASEBALL vs. Charleston Southern, 3 p.m. Friday „ ., „ SOFTBALL vs. UNC-Greensboro, 1 p.m. Saturday Story ideas. Questions. Comments? MEN’S BASKETBALL at Vanderbilt, 8 p.m. Saturday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com WOM EN’S BASKETBALL at Alabama, 3 p.m. Sunday ______ USC falls short in upset bid 69 BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The Carolina women’s basket ball team came face-to-face with the No. 4 team in the country last night, and with a chance to win, came up just three points short of the upset. The Gamecocks (16-5,4 4 SEC) couldn’t get the 3-point shot they needed and lost to Louisiana State University (19-1,7-1), 69-66. USC set up a play for Cristina Ciocan to take the last shot with 7.1 seconds left, but Ciocan passed it to Tonisha Reese, who was forced by the defense to pass the ball back tp Ciocan. Ciocan was so closely guarded that her shot, as time expired, never got close to the rim. “We would have liked to have seen Cristina take the shot, but she made the right decision as closely guarded as she was,” USC head coach Susan Walvius said. “Games don’t come down to that. It came down to three or four pos sessions before that.” Carolina was led offensively by Petra Ujhelyi’s 24 points and nine rebounds, while Ciocan added 14 points and 10 assists. Jocelyn Penn scored 15 points and had eight rebounds. “I thought Petra did a great job scoring, putting the ball in the hole for us down low,” Walvius said. The Gamecocks had no answer for LSU’s freshman guard, Seimone Augustus. Augustus buried USC with 26 points, con necting on 11 of her 18 shots. “She is a great player and fun to watch,” Walvius said. “We didn’t guard her very well.” The Gamecocks lost the game despite shooting 73.3 percent from the free throw line, while LSU shot only 47.6 percent at the line. USC outscored the Tigers 42-34 in the paint, but was out-shot, as the Tigers shot 50 percent from the field as compared to 47.3 percent by USC. LSU led the entire game and was up 174 with 9:00 to play in the first half. USC then fought back with a 13-6 run, capped off with a Morrone 3-pointer and a Penn layup that made it a 25-20 game with 2:17 left in the half. LSU an swered with six straight points, ending the first half with a 31-21 lead. Carolina fought back to tie the game at 51 with 6:53 left to play, but LSU had an answer for every USC threat. After the Tigers jumped back up by six with less than a minute left, Morrone hit three free throws to make it 67-64. Ciocan then cut it to one with 8.4 seconds to go, but Augustus made two free throws to force Carolina to take a 3-pointer for the tie. Walvius wasn’t pleased with her team’s defensive effort, but thinks her team is headed down the right path. “We’re disappointed, but LSU is a really good team,” she said. “I was much more impressed with our offensive mentality in the sec ond half, but I wasn’t impressed with our defense the entire game. We gave up uncontested lay-ups and we gave them second shot op portunities. “We are a big time team. I don’t think our team is intimidated. I want our team to step out on the floor with a certain level of confi dence that they believe they can win these games.” Are we three points away from No. 4 in the country? If we are, it’s a great learning opportunity,” Walvius said. “LSU had every thing to lose; we had nothing to lose.” The Gamecocks travel to Tuscaloosa Sunday for a match up with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Petra Ujhelyi gets a look at the basket during Thursday's game against LSU. Ujhelyi scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Gamecocks' 69-66 loss. ----- Football brings in several top players BY NICK YOUNG THE GAMECOCK Syvelle Newton, Blake Mitchell,-Demetris Summers and Ryan Brown. The names might not sound familiar, but these young men and 24 others are a large part of USC’s football fu ture. Wednesday was the annual bo nanza that is known as national signing day. Despite a losing sea son that included a loss to in-state rival Clemson, the Gamecocks had a field day, signing 27 prospects and, in many experts’ minds, landing a top-15 recruit ing class. “I’m very pleased with where we are at the present time. The caliber, of the competition we were recruiting against was very impressive,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said. “I thought our coaches did an excellent job. I think it proves once again that we have a lot to offer here at the University of South Carolina.” The morning started off as two of the nation’s most heralded passers signed national letters of intent to play for USC next year. Syvelle Newton and Blake Mitchell are both among the top 10 quarterbacks in the nation as ranked by ESPN’s Tom Lemming. Newton, from Marlboro County High School in Bennettsville, is more of a run ning quarterback and has been compared to Michael Vick. Mitchell is more of a pocket quarterback and was ranked as the lOth-best quarterback in the nation by Lemming. Mitchell has been described by his LaGrange (Ga.) High School coach as an “excellent decision maker and an accurate thrower.” Another one of Carolina’s highly regarded recruits, Berkeley High School’s Ryan Brown, was added to the class early in the afternoon. Brown played offense and defense in high school, but will play on the defensive side on the ball. New recruits do not always come straight from high school. USC is one of the most active re cruiters of junior college players and received a host of talented players in Fred Bennett, DeAdrian Coley, Marcus Lawrence, Mike Rathe, Freddy Saint Preux, Woody Telfort, Charles Silas and Darrell Shropshire. The top two players out of this group are Shropshire and Lawrence. Shropshire comes to USC ranked by SuperPrep as the No. 7 Juco prospect in all of America and the sixth-best non high school player in the nation. Lawrence, from Aiken, is a linebacker who was a Juco All American. Other Gamecock signees in clude Cory Boyd, William Brown, Stanley Doughty, Ty Erving, Derrick Harper, D’von Hill, Josh Johnson, David Laggis, Travis Lee, Robert Pavlovic, Curtis Rice, Tray Rogers, David Smith, Cody Wells and Noah Whiteside. As signing day neared its end, all of South Carolina was waiting to see whether Summers would sign with Clemson or Carolina. After a highlight video, Summers announced he was going to be a Gamecock. Summers has been ranked as the top running back in most publications and is ranked as the No. 4 prospect in America. During his high school career, he set the South Carolina all-time records for rushing yards and touchdowns. “Demetris Summers could have gone anywhere in the country. And there’s a reason for that — he’s a real talent,” Holtz said. “He can run, he can catch, he can field punts, he can break tackles, he can run over you. His accomplishments in high school are unbelievable. I think he has a tremendous fu ture and I’m glad he has chosen South Carolina.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com SPORTS CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE: Matt Brad Jill Erin Justin Kyle The Gamecock’s readers and Rothenberg Senkiw Martin O’Neal Bajan Almond staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editor in Viewpoints Page Reader of with predictions of the Editor Editor Chief Editor Designer the Week weekend’s games. (Rankings (23-7) (21-9) (21-9) (20-10) (19-11) (22-8) are from the Associated Press.) 4 Pittsburgh at 10 Notre Dame Pittsburgh Notre Dame Pittsburgh Notre Dame Notre Dame Pittsburgh 14 Wake Forest at 15 Marquette Wake Marquette Marquette Wake Wake Marquette Texas Tech at 21 Missouri Texas Tech Missouri Missouri Texas Tech Missouri Missouri 19 Syracuse at West Virginia_Syracuse Syracuse Syracuse Syracuse Syracuse Syracuse Dayton at 20 Xavier _Xavier XavierXavier Dayton_ Jtavier Xavier 22 Alabama at 1 Florida Florida Florida Florida Florida Florida Alabama 6 Kentucky at Ole Miss Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky 17 Georgia at TennesseeGeorgia GeorgiaGeorgia Tennessee Georgia Georgia Clemson at 9 Duke Duke Duke Duke Duke Duke Duke USC at Vanderbilt Vandy Vandy Vandy USC Vandy USC 75-68 67-60 90-77 78-60 72-65 21-20 last WEEK S WINNER: Wendy Jeffcoat (9-1) - Jeltcoat, tne assistant news editor, wins via the tiebreaker, breaking a four-way logjam vying to be the winner. Rothenberg, Martin and Reader of the Week Brandon Simmons all went 9-1 as well, but Jeffcoat’s prediction for the Kentucky-USC was the closest to the true outcome. Assistant Sports Editor Brad Senkiw also had a fine week, going 3-2, but missed tying the other four because he picked LSU to beat Alabama. Head Page Designer David Stagg did well too, although he finished 7-3. WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mail your selections next week to gamecocksports@hotmail.com. If you’re picked and have the best record, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt and be able to talk all the trash you want. £ Gamecocks still winless on the road BATON ROUGE, LA. (AP) - When LSU coach John Brady huddled his team after a recent practice, he said to do three things — defend, rebound and not worry about scoring. The Tigers responded Wednesday with their best of fensive night since they were ranked nationally, getting an easy 71-58 victory over South Carolina at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU (13-7,2-6, SEC) broke a five-game losing streak with its best shooting performance since beating Centenary on Jan. 15 for its 10th win in 11 games. The team scored its most points in an SEC game since beating No. 7 Mississippi State 85-72 on Jan. 11. The Tigers also put four play ers in double figures in an SEC game for the first time since that Mississippi State game as Ronald Dupree and Collis Temple III each scored 17 points, Jaime Lloreda 14 and Darrel Mitchell 12. “If there ever was a team that really needed a win, it was this team,” Brady said. “We got the monkey off our back, but we can’t let up,” said Temple, who hit 6-of-12 shots from the field, including 3-of-8 from 3-point range. “We’re going to Auburn now expecting to win. We’re still in the hunt. There’s a whole lot of parity in the SEC, in the West especially.” The Tigers, who play at first place Auburn (16-5, 5-3) on Saturday, remain in last place in the West but they’re just a game out of third. South Carolina (7 11) fell to 1-7 in the East. Lloreda grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds as the Tigers totaled their most rebounds with 42 since getting 44 in the Dec. 21 win over No. 1 Arizona. “I thought our ability to re bound the ball was the differ ence in the game,” Brady said. ,“I just came to rebound the ball and defend,” Lloreda said. “We hadn’t been rebounding the last three or four games. We were more athletic than they were. Every loose ball, we were flying for it.” South Carolina’s 6-foot 10 inch center Tony Kitchings managed just four rebounds as did 6-foot 9-inch forward Rolando Howell and 6-foot 7-inch forward Carlos Powell, who led the Gamecocks in scoring with 18 points. Howell added 11. The Tigers took control mid way through the first half and held off the Gamecocks down the stretch. South Carolina trimmed a 15-point LSU lead to 52-48 with 8:47 left, but LSU scored on its next three possessions. South Carolina lost its sev enth consecutive conference game after opening league play with a win over Mississippi. The Gamecocks are 0-8 on the road this year and have dropped 10 in a row away from Columbia. CLUB CORNER Gamecock Dance Sport Gamecock Dance Sport will practice Sunday and Feb. 16 in room 114 of the Blatt Physical Education Center. The prac tices start at 2 p.m. and end around 4 p.m. Gamecock Dance Sport is a club that teaches students and teachers how to do ballroom dancing, such as salsa, shag, swing, rumba, cha cha, foxtrot, tango and the waltz. No experi ence is needed to join the club, and everyone is welcome. If you have questions, con tact Michelle Lueck at 544-3418 or stepntoes@hotmail.com. 6 Women’s Rugby Club The USC women’s rugby club is going to Georgia Southern to play in the Black Rose tournament Saturday and Sunday. Last year, the team was runner-up at Black Rose. Any girls who want to get fit and have fun should come out and see what rugby is all about on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 7 p.m. on field E at the Blatt P.E. Center. If you are interested, e mail crstna7981@hotmail.com or bph_bumm@hotmail.com. Carolina students don’t get the point MATT ROTHENBERG GAMECQCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM USC students put a pall of shame on the school. Again? What happened? My request didn’t sink in the first time? A lot of you think you’re so cool because you ragged on Kentucky, specifically Keith Bogans, on Saturday afternoon in the Carolina Center. Here’s a news flash: You’re not. Here we go again, with a good portion of USC students taking it out on the Wildcats’ star guard, as well as on the rest of the team. What kind of point are you trying to prove? That some, but of course no* all, Carolina students are among the most ignorant there are? I think that must be it, be cause you’re doing a damn fine job. Naturally, Bogans lit up USC for 16 points and seven rebounds. Hardly eye-popping, but still enough to outscore the Gamecocks (except Chuck Eidson), as well as out-rebound anyone on USC’s team. Once again, we see how the truly excellent players will rise above the chants inflicted UDon them. Boeans is surely headed for the NBA. Do we have anyone who’s going there any time soon? Not last time I checked. Carolina students have no rea son to brag. We’ve got one measly win in the SEC and have lost every game we’ve played on the road. Instead of jeering against our op ponents, why not cheer for your own team? Is it because they’re los ing, and you have to take out your frustrations on someone?' It’s time to cut the vulgarities out of your act. Even the USC ath letics department apologized to Kentucky on Monday because of your actions. That’s not right. Those students should be the ones apologizing to the Wildcats. If you think I’m the only person writing about this, you’re also wrong. Sunday columns in the Post and Courier, in Charleston, and in the Augusta Chronicle both ex pressed the sheer repulsiveness of the students’ words. It’s truly a shame. I know the Clemson game is Wednesday, and I know tensions run high when we play Clemson in any sport. But you should know that if the same words used against Bogans are spoken again, the offenders will be thrown out of the Carolina Center. I don’t even know why I’m writ ing about this topic again. Sometimes it feels like I’m talking to a brick wall of ignorance and apathy. There’s no reaction, yet the samp roadblock stands in the path of common sense and decen cy. How much longer will it stand? I am well aware that this type of verbal assault goes on elsewhere across the nation. But I don’t care wnai yuui excuses are — no mat ter what the reason, it's just wrong. As an aside, I would like to thank the Carolina students who did not partake in this display of poor sportsmanship. At least I know there are a lot of people at USC who treat others respectfully. But for those of you who think you can go ahead and say whatev er you’d like, you can redeem •yourselves by going to USC’s women’s athletics events. Why can’t more students sup port the women’s athletics teams here? Many of are nationally ranked, and admission is free when you flash your ID card. Maybe some games aren’t at good times for you, but there are plenty of home contests to choose from. Believe me, I think it would be nice of their fellow students to support them. Just go out there and make your selves heard through your positive cheers, not the degrading words spoken this past weekend. Rothenberg is a fourth-year sports and entertainment management student.