University of South Carolina Libraries
8 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, February 10, 2003 GAME SCHEDULE MEN'S GOLF at Tulane Intercollegiate, New Orleans, Mon.-Tues. PONTAfT TTS MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Clemson, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday irvvj 1 u u WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at Georgia, 7 p.m. Thursday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? SOFTBALL vs. UCLA at Desert Classic Tournament in E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Las Vegas, 12 p.m. Friday USC wins Carolina Invite / • Carolina beats UNC-Greensboro as pitcher Melanie Henkes hurls 3rd shutout of season BY TRAVIS BOLAND THE GAMECOCK The 20th-ranked South Carolina softball team went 3-1 when it played host to the Carolina Invitational at Beckham Field over the weekend. The Gamecocks took on UNC Greensboro, Georgia Tech and Boston College in round-rpbin play before taking on UNCG again in the championship game. USC captured the tournament crown. Saturday: USC 3 - UNCG 1 The Gamecocks’ first game of the Invitational was against the UNC Greensboro Spartans. Carolina pitcher Stacey Johnson (2-0) pitched all seven innings, giving up just two hits and one unearned run. She walked one and struck out seven to earn her sec ond win of the season. Offensively, the Gamecocks scored their first run in the second in ning on freshman Ashley Smith’s double that brought in Debralee Troesh. Smith connected again in the fourth, this time for a solo home run, which gave the Gamecocks a 2-0 curt|s lead. UNC-Greensboro scored a run in the fifth, but USC’s Amber Curtis’ double scored Nancy Crane, closing out the scoring at 3-1. Saturday: USC 8 - Ga. Tech 0 In USC’s second game of the day, the Gamecocks charged out of the gate. They scored seven runs in the second inning to jump to an early lead against the 19th ranked Yellow Jackets. Again, Smith delivered the big blow, hit ting her second home run of the day, this time a grand slam that put the Yellow Jackets away early. In the fourth inning, des ignated player Tia Rogers hit a solo home run to close out the scoring, as the game Henkes was called in the fifth in ning. Freshman pitcher Melanie Henkes pitched five innings, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out five. Sunday: BC 3 - USC 2 The Gamecocks trailed early in their third game of the Invitational but came on strong at the end. Aleca Johnson (0-1) made her first start of the year against the Eagles, pitching four innings. She allowed three runs on three hits, walked one and struck out six batters. The three runs all came off two home runs, which the Eagles hit in the same in ning. This matched the total number of home runs that Johnson gave up last sea son. Stacey Johnson came on in relief, toss ing three innings while walking three and striking out three. The Gamecocks’ bats, which connected well the day before, went silent through six innings. During the seventh inning, down 3-0, they staged a heroic comeback, only to fall short one run. Smith drove in another runner, scoring Curtis, while Jodi Fittro crossed the plate on a hit by Rogers. The loss was the first of the year for Carolina, but with a 2-1 record in the tour nament, the team still advanced to the championship game. Sunday: USC 3-UNCG0 The Gamecocks squared off against the PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK (JSC’s Ashley Smith prepares to throw toward first base Saturday against UNC-Greensboro. Smith hit two home runs, Including a grand slam, and drove In nine runs during the Carolina Invitational this past weekend. Baseball opens with series win PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK USC’s Bryan Triplett gets his bat on the ball during Sunday’s 11-2 win over Charleston Southern. Triplett went 3-for-4 on the day with four RBIs, three of which came off a sixth inning triple that scored Kevin Mellllo, Nick Gardiner and Jon Coutlangus. BY MATT ROTHENBERG AND BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The eighth-ranked USC base ball team kicked off its season this weekend with a three-game series against the Charleston Southern Buccaneers (1-2). Carolina (2-1) won the first game, dropped the second and took the series finale on Sunday. Friday: USC 9-CSU 7 In thrilling fashion, the Gamecocks scored seven unan swered runs to defeat the Buccaneers 9-7 in the season open er for both teams. Charleston Southern’s starting pitcher, B. J. Swindle, kept USC in check for most of his 5 2/3 innings, while Carolina starter Steven Bondurant wasn’t nearly as im pressive, allowing seven runs over four innings of work. CSU raced to a 7-2 lead by scor ing four runs in the fifth inning. But once Bondurant left the game, the USC bats awoke. Justin Harris started the come back with a solo home run in the fifth inning, and Brian Buscher came home with the eventual win ning run in the bottom of the eighth inning, courtesy of Nick Gardiner’s sacrifice fly. Aaron Rawl (1-0) shut down the Buccaneers over the final three in nings to earn the win for USC. Gardiner, a newcomer, had a solid day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. “We worked hard. We were for tunate that we were able to rally back,” coach Ray Tanner said. “Having a tough game hopefully helps you as you get farther along in the season.” Saturday: CSU8-USC5 Unfortunately, having that tough game didn’t help the Gamecocks the next day, as the Buccaneers scored three times in the top of the ninth inning to beat USC. Carolina never had a lead, and forced to come from behind, fell just ♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 9 At Vandy, men break 7-game losing streak BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK Please forgive the Gamecock men’s basketball team if they seem a bit relieved after Saturday night. They only had a huge weight lifted off of their collective back. The heavy feeling of a sev en-game losing streak — not to mention having not won away from Columbia this season — was erased with an 84-72 win over Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville. For the first time in exactly a month, the Gamecocks (8-11,2-7 SEC) were firing on all cylinders, and it paid off with a victory against the equally struggling Commodores (10-10, 3-6), who came into the game having won two of their past six games. Those two wins, though, were upsets against heavily favored oppo nents in Georgia and Alabama. USC head coach Dave Odom felt the relief of getting a big win over a quality foe. “It’s been a long month and an even longer two-and-a-half weeks. Our lone home game was against arguably the best team in the league,” he said. “I can’t think of a better way to end it — with a win against a good team. Vanderbilt has had a lot of suc cess in tlys building. They beat Georgia dnd Alabama here.” But Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings couldn’t under stand how his team lost to the Gamecocks. The game “was pretty sicken ing,” Stallings said. “I wish I had an explanation, but I don’t.” The two teams played evenly during the early stages of the first half, but with the score 12-11 in favor of Vanderbilt, the Gamecocks rattled off a resound ing 21-4 run. The streak put USC in the driver’s seat, and Carolina controlled the pace of the game all the way through to the end. Gamecock guard Chuck Eidson accounted for six of USC’s points during Jhat stretch and fin ♦ MEN, SEE PAGE 9 Penn’s 20 points help Gamecocks quell Crimson Tide TUSCALOOSA, ALA. (AP) - Jocelyn Penn scored 20 points as No. 16 South Carolina defeated Alabama 48-34 Sunday. Penn, who entered the game as the nation’s fourth-leading scorer and tops in the Southeastern Conference at 25 points per game, was 8-of-13 from the field and scored more points than Alabama (11-11,1-8) had in either half. She also had 10 re bounds. Jamilah Johns and Katie Sipe had eight points and five re bounds each to lead the Crimson Tide, which has lost nine of its last 10. Petra Ujhelyi added 15 re bounds and five blocked shots for South Carolina (17-5,5-4). The game was tied at 10 early in the first half when the Gamecocks went on a 10-0 run. The Crimson Tide never got closer than six the rest of the way. Both teams struggled offen sively. The Gamecocks shot 32 percent and built much of their lead at the free-throw line, where they were ll-of-15. Alabama shot 25 percent for the game. South Carolina returns to the court on Thursday when it heads to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs. Knight’s 800 wins personify attitude * BRAD SENKIW GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Texas Tech coach’s mark proves his greatness. A congratulations is definitely in order this week for one of col lege basketball’s greatest coach es. Texas Tech’s Bobby Knight notched his 800th win on Wednesday to become the fifth coach in college hoops history to do so and fourth on the all-time Division I wins list. Say what you want about Knight, but I easily forget the chair throwing, player abuse and ESPN movies and think about one thing: 800 wins. Knight’s name is in an elite class with Mount Saint Mary’s Jim Phelan; Kentucky’s legendary Adolph Rupp; and the wins leader himself, UNC’s Dean Smith. For all the wins that Knight has racked up, he has doubled that fig ure 10 times over in enemies. He has been criticized for excessive behavior, accused of physical abuse and fired from his longtime job at Indiana. Despite all this, Knight just keeps on going and adding victories. I totally respect the man for not caring about what anyone else thinks and just win wing his way. He doesn’t let oth er people or the media dictate how he handles himself or his players. Knight is among a dying breed in coaches. His one true desire is to teach kids about something more than basketball. In a time when many teenagers have little discipline and show even less re spect for anything, Knight gives young men a chance to learn how to live in the real world. He is a little eccentric in his ways, but how many of his players from now or the past do you see being caught with drugs or being ar rested for beating their wives? This man instills self-respect and a work-hard attitude. His players come out of his program knowing what is right and what is wrong. Yes, ivnignt is dictatorial. He even teaches his players how to put their socks on and tie their shoes based on his way of doing it. But it is way too hard to criticize anything Knight does when you look at the championship teams he’s coached and the quality of men coming out of his program. Would I send my kid to Texas Tech? You bet I would — in a heartbeat. When I have kids, I hope Knight shows up at my doorstep. Knight is one of the few coaches who will tell a player the truth. He lets them know that they will work hard to earn any play ing time and that their academic life will take great importance. What would the University of Cincinnati be if its coach, Bob Huggins, adopted that idea? It probably would have graduated more players than I can count on one hand. When Knight took over at Texas Tech, the doubters came running. What did Knight do? He simply won and took his a team from the cellar of the Big 12 to the NCAA Tournament in his first year. l believe Kmgnt nas settled down with his theatrical tenden cies in his older days. It was tru ly special to see the career of a great coach reach the 800-win plateau with his coaching days far from over. My only hope is Knight will continue to take Texas Tech where he did with Indiana and surpass Smith as the all-time lead er in coaching wins. Knight isn’t my favorite coach ever, but the respect I have for him is immense. Knight has battled the media, the fans and athletics de partments to solidify his name in the great sport of college basket ball. When it is all said and done, the legendary Smith will be look ing up at the even more legendary Knight on the all-time wins list. Senkiw is a third-year print journalism student.