The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 24, 2003, Page 8, Image 8
8
GAME SCHEDULE
AAVml tth * MEN’S BASKETBALL at Florida, 7 p.m. Tuesday
CON TACT U S WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Kentucky, 7 p.m. Thursday
WOMEN'S GOLF at Lady Puerto Rico Classic, Saturday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK at SEC Indoor
E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Championships, Saturday
USC fights off the Tigers
Petra Ujhelyi’sfree throw with 1.5
seconds left gives the Gamecocks a
key Southeastern Conference win
,
Auburn 64
(17-8, 5-7 SEC) “
0 ,19U6SM, 65
BY MATT ROTHENBERG
THE (JAMECOCK
Petra Ujhelyi admitted it wasn’t
the biggest shot she has taken in
her career, but the shot she took
at the end of the game against
Auburn was the most important
one for the 15th-ranked
Gamecocks on Sunday.
With 1.5 seconds remaining in
regulation and USC down 64-62,
Ujhelyi grabbed the rebound from
a missed shot by Jocelyn Penn and
put the ball back in the basket to
tie the game. The Tigers’ Tia
Miller fouled Ujhelyi to set up the
game-winning free throw.
ujneiyi said 11 was iuck max
she got the opportunity to put in
the tying basket and game-win
ning free throw.
Mandisa Stevenson threw the
inbounds pass back out of bounds,
and the Gamecocks (19-6,7-5 SEC)
squeaked by 65-64 in a battle for
seeding in the SEC tournament.
VValvius was pleased with the
effort to come back, though the
team didn’t achieve a high shoot
ing percentage.
“I don’t think we shot the ball
extremely well. However, we had
19 offensive rebounds, and we only
turned the ball over seven times.
Jocelyn gave us her typical game
— 21 points, 12 rebounds,”
Walvius said. “I thought we
worked pretty hard. As you can
see, Auburn is a very good basket
ball team.”
Auburn head coach Joe Ciampi
thought it was just a matter of who
had the ball in their court.
“I thought Jocelyn Penn played
a great game. She got seven offen
sive rebounds and was just a ma
chine in there,” Ciampi said. “It
was a situation where it came
down to valuing possessions at the
end. It’s our misfortune that South
Carolina had the last possession
and capitalized.”
USC opened up the scoring with
a 3-pointer from Cristina Ciocan,
but Auburn (17-8,5-7) ran out on a
nine-point streak, and not long af
terward, the Gamecocks were be
hind. 17-9. Stevenson, Miller and
LeCoe Willingham keyed the
Auburn offeilse in the opening
stretch, providing all of the Tigers’
points and beating USC in the
paint.
Down eight points, Walvius
called a timeout, after which the
Gamecocks broke the game open
with a huge 25-2 run. Carolina held
the Tigers scoreless for more than
seven minutes during that rally.
But Auburn worked to close the
gap a bit, scoring the last seven
points in the first half and ending
the period with the Gamecocks on
top 36-28 over the Tigers.
Both teams were fairly even in
the first half; Penn scored 14 of her
game-high 21 points, and each
squad shot more than 40 percent
from the field. Despite being out
rebounded, the Gamecocks still
had 20 points in the paint, com
pared with 10 from the Tigers.
Ujhelyi, who was looking for an
other double-double to go with the
10 she already has this season, was
not going at the pace to do so, hav
ing four points and three rebounds.
The second half provided most
of the suspense that seemed to per
vade the game. USC battled out to
a 10-point lead only to see it whit
tled away by the trio of Miller,
Willingham and Stevenson.
Auburn quickly regained the
lead, which it held throughout
most of the second half. But a bas
ket from Penn with 4:41 remain
ing tied the game and shifted the
momentum toward the
Gamecocks.
Natasha Brackett hit a 3-pointer
to put the Tigers back on top, but
♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 9
PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
Petra Ujhelyl, center, gets a look at the basket while being covered by two Auburn defenders.
Ujhelyi had seven rebounds, six assists and 11 points, Including the winning basket.
Gamecocks can’t keep up with Georgia
BY CHRIS FOY
TIIKCAMKCOOK
The USC men’s basketball
team hit a blip in its late-season
success Saturday when it trav
eled down to Athens, Ga. The
Gamecocks, going into the
matchup against No. 22 Georgia
boasting a four-game winning
streak, saw that feat come to an
end as the Bulldogs (16-7,8-4 SEC)
routed Carolina (11-12,4-8), 79-66.
After the game, USC head
coach Dave Odom said he thought
Georgia played considerably bet
ter than its No. 22 ranking might
have indicated.
“They’re a Top 25 team by any
body’s standards,” Odom said. “I
think they’re probably a Top 10
team in this building.”
The Gamecocks traded buck
ets with Georgia for most of the
first half. But after the Bulldogs
switched to a zone defense, USC’s
shooting suffered and Georgia’s
offense cruised on a 15-2 run to
end the first half.
The only points scored for
Carolina during the run were two
free throws by Chris Warren.
Georgia topped off the half with a
3-on-l fast break led by junior
Rashad Wright. Wright lobed the
ball up to Jarvis Hayes who
dunked the ball at the buzzer as
the Bulldogs went into the locker
room holding onto a 38-25 lead.
The second half was no better
for the Gamecocks. USC pulled
within 10 at one point, but after a
Georgia streak that featured three
3-pointers from
Hayes and Ezra
Williams,
Carolina found it
self down by 20
and was never
able to recover.
Hayes said he
thought the sec
Hayes ond-half run fi
nally put the
Bulldogs in a position of comfort.
“We never felt we had a comfort
able lead until that point,” Hayes
said. “South Carolina is a pesky
team. We knew at any point
they’re capable of a run.”
Warren led the team with 15
points. Chuck Eidson picked up
nine before fouling out late in the
second half. Tony Kitchings was
second with 11 points and also
picked up four rebounds. Kebrell
Brown, who was injured during
the Tennessee game and wore a
mask for most of Saturday’s
game, couldn’t connect at all, go
ing 0-5.
The Bulldogs were led by the
forces of Hayes and Williams.
Hayes led the team in scoring
with 26 points. Williams scored
16 points, including eight of
Georgia’s 15 in its first-half rim.
Throughout the game,
Georgia’s SEC-leading offense
was able to connect for 44.8 per
cent of its shots. Carolina, how
ever, had problems all day from
the floor and managed to only hit
37.7 percent from the field.
With the win, Georgia im
proves to 11-0 at home this year.
The win also propelled the team
into third place in the SEC East
and helped its cause for a bid for a
NCAA Tournament spot.
The Gamecocks fall to a dismal
1-9 on the road. With the loss, any
hopes of the big dance would rely
on the team’s winning out its reg
ular-season schedule. It is not a
simple task, though, as Carolina
will round out the season playing
at Florida and Alabama and play
ing host to Vanderbilt and
Georgia at the Carolina Center.
USC will start its final stretch
Tuesday when it travels to
Gainesville to face off against No.
7 Florida in front of a national au
dience on ESPN. Last time the
two teams met in Columbia, the
Gators survived a scare as they
left the building with a narrow 78
76 win. Tip-off is scheduled for 7
p.m.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Carolina baseball gets its first sweep of the season
BY TRAVIS BOLAND
THE GAMECOCK
The 12th-ranked USC baseball
team (8-1) put its ranking on the
line against the Duquesne Dukes
(0-3) over the weekend. The
Gamecocks swept the Dukes in a
three-game series, relying on
their great hitting and pitching.
USC 12 - Duquesne 2
The Gamecocks opened the se
ries Friday with a 12-2 thrashing
of the Dukes. Hank Parks and
Kevin Melillo, who each homered
twice, led Carolina. David
Marchbanks won his third game,
pitching six innings, allowing
two runs and striking out six bat
ters.
The Gamecocks got on the
board first in the second inning,
with Parks hitting the first of
his two solo home runs. The
Dukes then took their first lead
in the third inning, getting
three consecutive hits off
Marchbanks and taking a 2-1
lead.
But in the bot
tom of the inning,
the Gamecocks
broke the game
open with six
runs, giving them
a 7-2 advantage.
Six straight
Carolina batters Melillo
reached base in
the inning, but the big hit was a
two-run double by Michael
Campbell.
The Gamecocks went on to
score two more runs in the sixth,
including Melillo’s first home run
of the game. USC capped the scor
ing with three runs in the seventh
inning, when both Parks and
Melillo homered.
Zach Reeves pitched two score
less innings, and Bobby White
came on to pitch a hitless ninth
to seal the victory. The
Gamecocks pounded out 16 hits,
including three by Melillo and
Bryan Triplett.
USC 7 — Duquesne 5
The Gamecocks continued the
weekend series Saturday, and af
ter sitting through a three-hour
rain delay, they went out and
beat the Dukes 7-5. Freshman
Conor Lalor picked up his first
collegiate win, pitching five in
nings and allowing two unearned
runs.
Carolina jumped on top early
with unearned runs in the first
and second innings. Campbell led
off the game with a single and
came around to score on a single
by Brian Butcher. Triplett scored
the other ruli, drawing a walk and
coming around on a Parks sacri
fice fly.
Lalor was cruising until the
fifth inning, when Duquesne got
two unearned runs of its own. But
two more unearned runs in the
bottom of the fifth gave Carolina
the lead back. Duquesne got an
other run in the top of the sixth,
but Landon Powell’s three-run
double in the bottom of the sixth
gave the Gamecocks the lead for
good at 7-3.
The Dukes cut the lead to 7-5 in
the eighth inning with another
pair of unearned runs on an er
ror, a hit and two wild pitches by
USC’s Forrest Beverly.
USC 9 -Duquesne 0
The Gamecocks finished off the
Dukes 9-0 on Sunday, in the series
finale led by a strong pitching per
formance by Matt Campbell.
Campbell pitched seven and one
third innings of hitless ball, al
lowing just one walk. Campbell
retired 16 straight batters, strik
Iing out nine.
Steven Bondurant
pitched the ninth
inning and al
lowed one hit and
struck out one bat
ter.
_ Carolina
_ , jumped out to an
Campbell early lead scor.
ing three runs in
the bottom of the first. Three
walks, two wild pitches and one
hit batter led to the three
Gamecock runs. Carolina didn’t
get its first hit until the bottom
of the fifth inning, when
Buscher singled. Powell singled
to score Melillo, putting the
Gamecocks ahead 4-0.
The Gamecocks added to the
scoring in the seventh when
♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 9
Fans can
turn all
t
attention
to racing
BRADSENKIW
GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Winston Cup is full of
issues and excitement.
I’ll be the first to admit that
February is not the epitome of the
sports season. But for those who
are waiting on spring training,
March Madness and the NFL
draft, how about focusing on the
biggest fan attraction of all:
NASCAR.
The Daytona 500 was a washout
last weekend, but racing got right
back on track this week with Dale
Jarrett’s win at Rockingham. Now
that the checkered flags have been
thrown on the season, it is my turn
for a little prediction and review
of issues that will
occur in the next
eight months.
First, the sport
has changed over
the past few years
with the emer
gence of young
and exciting
drivers competing Busch
for the Winston
Cup Championship. Guys such as
Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Matt
Kenseth, Ryan Newman and Dale
Earnhardt Jr. are grabbing head
lines and positions on and off the
track from drivers such as Bill
Elliot, Mark Martin and Sterling
Marlin.
ueienuing cnamyiuu luuy
Stewart has become Winston
Cup’s poster boy for bad behavior.
The defending points champion
has battled NASCAR for the past
few years through everything
from his driving tactics to fights
with EMS workers. I say NASCAR
is being a bit too picky with
Stewart. It doesn’t like him, and
that’s sad because he might be the
gutsiest driver on the circuit.
Stewart is one of those guys, even
though he is fairly young, who has
an old school mentality of “it’s my
track and I should win.”
Last weekend’s disappointing
end should not have been. After
109 of the 200 laps were completed,
rain stopped the event, again, and
Michael Waltrip was named the
winner. Isn’t this the Super Bowl
of NASCAR? I know the race can’t
go on in the rain, but just finish it
the next day. The sport and the
event are too big to end early, un
less Bud Selig has taken over.
And what is up with
NASCAR’s idea of using criteria
to reduce the number of tracks?
Officials want to take away tracks
that aren’t meeting their money
demands. Yesterday’s site,
Rockingham, is a front-runner for
extermination even though it is
the top-rated track among
drivers. They love it because they
don’t stay in a single-file line and
have more ability to pass. But
NASCAR doesn’t like the fact that
it can’t sell out the event and
weather is sometimes a problem.
How about keeping a track that
gives an exciting race instead of
worrying so much about money? I
know this is a business, but little
is done to make drivers happy
anymore.
ror jnAoUAK to become tne
mainstream sport that it can be, it
needs a spokesman. Earnhardt
should be the man
to start carrying
the torch this sea
son. He is the per
fect choice, being
Dale Sr.’s son and
a likeable young
man with a win
ning team. Junior
Earnhardt is hitting his
prime as a driver
and, if he can avoid the bad luck
he has seen early this season,
could compete for the points
championship this year.
This is guaranteed to be an
other long and issue-filled year of
racing as NASCAR and its
♦ SENKIW, SEE PAGE 9