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GAME SCHEDULE n AAFTl A nrr TIC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Kentucky, 7 p.m. Thursday Kj UlN lAU 1 UO MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK at SEC indoor Championships, Fri.,Sat. o- „ WOMEN'S TENNIS vs. Miss. St., 1:30 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? MEN’S TENNIS at Miss. St., 2 p.m. Friday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Carolina sinks in Swamp Gamecocks are no match for the mighty Gators SUSC go (11-13,3-8 SEC) ° (tfgSk Florida qc (23-4,11-2) BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s basketball team is beginning to feel that ev ery road game leads to a blowout. After the team stumbled against the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday, it only got worse for Carolina (11-13,3-8 SEC) as it was thrashed by the fourth-ranked Gators 96-63 in Gainesville, Fla. It was Carolina’s second straight loss in as many road games, and the Gamecocks were left watching a highly-ranked op ponent dominate them in front of a rowdy crowd. The Gators (23-4, 11-2) won their 19th game at home, as they built a late first-half lead that only got bigger in the second half. Florida had six players in dou ble figures, led by Matt Bonner’s 18 points and David Lee’s 14 points, along with eight rebounds. Justin Hamilton scored 12 points, Bonnell Colas had 11, and Christian Drejer and Anthony Roberson added 10 points apiece. The Gators shot 64.2 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from be hind the arc; the Gamecocks stood little chance against the high-pow ered offense Florida head coach Billy Donovan’s team brought. Bonner was 3-for-4 from the 3 point line, and Roberson hit both of his long-range attempts. The Gamecocks shot 41 per cent from the field as a team, but could find no way to stop Florida’s fast-break offense. Rolando Howell scored 16 points with six rebounds, as he hit seven ♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 14 FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK USC's Rolando Howell tries to dribble past an Arkansas player. Howell had 16 points in Carolina’s loss to Fldrida on Tuesday. use to honor senior players BY NICK YOUNG THE GAMECOCK After an exciting final-second victory over Auburn on Sunday, the USC women’s basketball team will honor its three seniors Thursday before taking on the Kentucky Lady Wildcats. Carolina is trying to secure the fourth spot as it prepares for the SEC Tournament. For the first time this season, the 16th-ranked Gamecocks (19-6. 7-5 SEC) are two games over .500 in conference play, and they are looking to sweep their season se ries against the Kentucky wom en’s team (11-13,4-8). The last time these two forces met, the Gamecocks squeaked away with a narrow 49-46 win. In the game, the Lady Wildcats held Naismith Award finalist Jocelyn Penn to her worst performance of the year. In the game, Penn made only one of her eight shot at tempts and recorded two re bounds during her 37 minutes of play. Luckily for the Gamecocks, Kelly Morrone and Cristina Ciocan picked up the slack with 13 points apiece. Koretha Johnson contributed 11 rebounds, _ll ao Much of Kentucky’s defensive success against Penn is credited to Sara Potts and Rita Adams. Potts put pressure on Penn in the perimeter, using her quick ness to match up with the Carolina forward. When Penn would move to the post, Potts would still play her one-on-one. But the 5-foot-8-inch Adams would come over and help out on the weak-side with her shot blocking ability. When Adams wasn’t helping out with Penn, she was teaming with freshman Jennifer Humphrey to hold Carolina center Petra Ujhelyi in check. Ujhelyi managed only eight points and seven rebounds, both below her average, and fouled out, as well. Like the Gamecocks, UK plays a three-guard set with one guard who is more of a slashing perime ter player. Because they play with basi cally the same types of players, the size matchups should be fair ly equal. The Lady Wildcats are one of the most balanced teams offen sively in the conference, with four players who average more than 10 points per game. The only starter who does not average 10 or more points is Jennifer Humphrey, who is only a few points behind with a 7.7-per-game average. Humphrey is second on the team with 22 blocks to her credit. On the defensive side of the ball, Kentucky is led by two un derclassmen guards. Adams has 26 blocks and 57 steals to lead the Wildcats in both categories. Joining Adams among the team leaders in steals and blocks is ♦ WOMEN, SEE PAGE 14 BY HOLLI ARMSTRONG THE GAMECOCK When Aleen Bailey first crossed paths with head track coach Curtis Frye, at an indoor meet last year in Arkansas, she held nothing back. “Coach Frye, why aren’t you recruiting me?” Bailey said. Frye is quick to recall the conversation. “Her coach was there, and I had asked him about her, and he toid me she “She has already SET- T", brought to the table said -And everything we hope when she this program is walked up and abOUt. ... In tum, I know why i think she gives wasn’t recruit more to us than we higher, I had gjve to her.” to say I didn t ° know she was CURTIS FRYE interested ” usc HEAD TRACK C0ACH Bailey told Frye that her mother thought she should look into USC, and Frye wanted to know when to schedule a visit. “I’m free next week,” she said. Just like that, Frye sealed the easiest re cruiting deal of his coaching career. “Aleen is a wonderful person that is very talented and has incredible competitive heart. I would love to have 25 more Aleens,” Frye said. “She chose South Carolina; South Carolina did not choose her. She wanted to be here. She is happy.” Bailey said: “All the coach es I had met with talked about how great their athletes were, but the first thing Coach Frye told me was that he had three athletes with a 4.0 GPA. I knew Aleen Bailey Is proving to be a great find for the USC track program. She has set several personal records In her time as a Gamecock. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK I should be here, because Coach looks out for both academics and track.” South Carolina offered Bailey the chance to live out a child hood dream that began taking shape back home in St. Mary, Jamaica, where her mother, father, eight brothers and six sisters still live. Like many 8 year-olds, she was full of energy, and her teacher suggested she try chan neling some of that en ergy into sports. Track, which is extremely popular in Jamaica, made sense. Besides the climate — right now, it is 92 degrees in Jamaica — the track culture in the United States took some get ting used to. “Track is more com petitive here than it is in Jamaica, because you get to run with different j people at different lev- J els,” said Bailey, who is 1 ♦ BAILEY, SEE PAGE 14 ’ Softball takes two at Lead-Off BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE UAMECOCK When the 16th-ranked Gamecock softball team went to Columbus, Ga., for the Lead-Off Classic this weekend, it was con tinuing a challenging schedule that features several potential postseason teams. With a 2-1 showing in Columbus, Carolina is proving that it can stand among those clubs aiming for a long postseason run. The Gamecocks (9-5) lost a close 2-1 game to the fifth-ranked Washington Huskies on Saturday, while shelling Temple by a 7-4 score later that day. Carolina blanked the 15th ranked Michigan Wolverines 3-0 to close out its road trip on Sunday. Washington 2 - USC 1 In a game that began Friday afternoon and ended Saturday afternoon, the Gamecocks fell behind 2-0 to the Huskies before rain delayed the end of the game. USC could manage only a sin gle run after the game resumed, falling sh,prt of an upset. Kathy Fiske was the offensive star of the game for Washington, going 2-for-3 and driving in both Huskie runs. Washington (10-1) made the initial strike in the bot tom of the first inning, when Fiske doubled in shortstop Jaime Clark. Fiske hit a single to center field in the third inning to drive in Amanda Oleson with the eventual game winning run. Washington pitcher Tia Bollinger took the mound and kept the Gamecocks’ bats largely silent, only allowing a single run on four hits. The only USC run was scored when Dpbralee Troesh hit a home run to center field. Bollinger improved her record to 5-0, allowing hits to Tia Rogers, Meghan Cornett and Jodi Fittro. Stacey Johnson pitched five innings, suffering the loss for the Gamecocks. Melanie Henkes tossed the sixth inning, but USC could not mount a comeback in the final innings. USC 7 - Temple 4 Temple raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second game for Carolina ♦SOFTBALL, SEE PAGE 14 Baseball is just a game of numbers MATT ROTHENBERG - GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Statistics, ticket prices, jersey numbers abound. The weather outside is warm ing up, the sun is shining just a lit 1 tie longer every day, and the flow ers are beginning to bloom. Yes, spring is truly on its way, and with the annual season of renewal comes the promise of a new base ball season. Of course, before base ball gets into full swing, there are always other sports to tickle one’s fancy. With two races under its belt al ready, the NASCAR season is - starting to get in full gear, while several NBA and NHL teams con tinue to battle for playoff position. College basketball teams across the country are preparing for their conference tournaments and a heralded spot in March Madness. But what is it about baseball that has me so looking forward to it? Is it the crack of the bat? Or is it the smell of freshly cut grass? What about the sight of several multimillion-dollar ballplayers trying to outperform one anoth er? Nope, not even close. It’s actu ally the numbers game, which is assisted, in part, by fantasy base ball. Fantasy baseball is an addic tive “sport” of sorts in which peo ple can laze away their spring and summer poring over the daily statistics to find some obscure player who can make a difference on a team that would never come together in reality. Some people go by the normal statistics, such as batting average; hits; home runs; RBIs for batters; and, for pitchers, wins, ERA, strikeouts and walks. Then there are those who would delve into the depths of baseball statistical knowledge. You know this person; the one who determines the on-base per centage or slugging percentage or strikeouts-to-walks ratio or oppo nent’s batting average. There’s al ways at least one in every league. It’s all about the statistics. ESPN manages to bombard the country each and every day with a bunch of essentially meaningless numbers. Maybe they’re not to tally meaningless, 1_X 1__ UUl 11U1> U1U11J J'VU pie could care about them? All I need to know is who’s leading his respective league in different hitting and pitching statistics. Rocker But going back to fantasy baseball, sometimes statistics can be de ceiving. Often, one must rational ize a decision that could make or break a season. For instance, early last year, I dropped Derek Lowe of the Boston Red Sox and picked up John Rocker. I figured Lowe had a bad 2001 as a closer and Rocker would do a better job. Boy, was I wrong, and that was probably one of the reasons I landed in ninth place, out of 10, at season’s end. It just goes to show you that sometimes it’s best not to rely on statistics. There’s always a gut feeling that should be equally tak en into consideration. There’s more to the numbers game that is baseball, though. An example is seeing Daseoau players wearing uniform num bers that would make people think they’re seeing football play ers on the diamond. Guys wear ing digits in the 60s through the 80s is just one of those interesting spring-training sights. Usually, most of these guys are minor lea guers or free agents trying to make the big-league club. In the case of the New York Yankees, however, it’s because a team re ♦ ROTHENBERG, SEE PAGE 14