The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 03, 2003, Page 9, Image 9
Without Penn, Carolina
rolls over the Rebels
have won four straight and fin
ished tied for fifth in the SEC with
Vanderbilt.
“It’s not a surprise that we
scored that many because our
team really does a good job find
ing open people and that starts
with our point guard (Ciocan),”
South Carolina coach Susan
Walvius said. “We’re playing our
best basketball of the season right
now.”
Amber Watts had 18 points and
eight rebounds to lead Ole Miss
(12-15,1-13), which lost its final 13
SEC games to match its worst con
ference record ever.
Tia Watson had 15 points and
nine rebounds for the Lady Rebels.
South Carolina outscored Ole
Miss 21-9 in the final seven min
utes of the first half to take control
of the game. Morrone hit two 3
pointers during the run, the sec
ond with 1:10 left to make it 40-26.
South Carolina led 42-26 at half
time.
Ole Miss cut the lead to 13 early
in the second half on a free throw
by Watts, but it never got any clos
er.
“We made a run, but then we
had breakdowns, while South
Carolina was very opportunistic
on the other end,” Ole Miss coach
Ron Aldy said. “They really played
well as a team and they were very,
very impressive today.”
Burgess scored six straight
points for South Carolina to ex
tend the lead to 49-32 with 17 min
utes left.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by
Ciocan and Koretha Johnson in
creased the lead to 63-41 with 10:41
left.
Ole Miss and South Carolina
will meet again in the first round
of the SEC tournament on
Thursday.
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Boynton
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
presence changed the Gamecocks’
mentality.
“He was like that comfortable
blanket that you grew up with. He
came in, and the mood just
changed to, ‘We’re going to win
this game,”’ Eidson said. “After
that, we knew we were going to
get the ball up the court and get
good shots. I don’t know what it
was, but I know it was nice to have
him out there to help me out.”
Boynton said he decided to take
complete advantage of the oppor
tunity he was getting.
“It would have been more diffi
cult if I were a freshman or a
sophomore. As time goes on, you
mature in your mind as to how
the system is working. This is a
business and you’ve got to win,”
he said. “If you’re not producing
at a certain time, then they’re go
ing to look at someone else. At a
point in time, I wasn’t producing,
and I knew my time would come
again and my opportunity would
come again to be able to produce
for this team. I got that opportu
nity tonight, and I stepped up and
took full advantage of it.”
But with all that Boynton did
to keep USC in the game, Powell
provided the points to back
Boynton up. The forward from
Florence scored a career-high 21
points —15 of them in the second
half — and contributed seven as
sists, also a career-high, to pace
Carolina offensively.
“Certainly Carlos had a great
day today. When he’s playing that
well, the ball moves, there’s a lot
of energy out there. We were able
to do some things offensively,”
Odom said.
Powell was surprised with his
effort; he knew he had 21 points,
but he said he “probably never
had seven assists” in as long as he
could remember.
Yet even with all Powell did,
Odom could not help but put the
focus back on Boynton.
“I appreciate knowing that I’ve
got players on the court that know
what to do. They may not be able
to do what you want them to do,
but they know what to do,” Odom
said. “Mike Boynton epitomizes
that. He is a player who hadn’t
played a lot lately, but to stay in
the game mentally, in the game
and in practice, it shows you he’s
a special person, if not a special
player.”
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Baseball
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
after singles by Nick Gardiner and
Hank Parks, Melillo brought in a
run with a sacrifice fly. Two bat
ters later, Clemson reliever Robert
Rohrbaugh walked Buscher with
the bases loaded, giving Carolina a
4-0 lead.
Clemson came right back late
in the game with a two-run homer
by Johnson in the eighth inning
and a two-run home run by Frank
in the ninth inning. Rawl then
turned on the juice and ended the
Clemson rally by striking out three
straight batters to end the game.
“They only had a day to enjoy
(their win), so now we got a month
to epjoy (our) one win,” Rawl said.
“It’s a big momentum change for
us.”
Gardner-Webb comes to
Columbia on Tuesday night for a 7
p.m. game against USC.
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BRIEFLY
USC nets wins over
Bulldogs, Rebels
The 24th-ranked Gamecock
women’s tennis team cruised to
a 7-0 win over Mississippi State
in the SEC opener Friday.
Carolina came out strong,
winning two of the three doubles
matches. Kathy Boyanovich and
Magda Wojdylo defeated Yumi
Ueda and Elaine Fagan 8-0 in the
No. 1 doubles match-up. Jodi
Kenoyer and Catherine Brown
came back to defeat Magdi
Rekasi and Annastasia
Kugakolova 8-6. Mississippi
State’s Marcelle Hirt and
Justyna Switala took the third
doubles match 9-7 over Justine
Walsh and Danielle Wiggins.
The Gamecocks won all six
singles matches to complete the
i
victory over the Bulldogs.
Sunday, the Gamecocks won
4-3 against Ole Miss on Sunday
afternoon, improving to 6-1 over
all and 2-0 in the SEC while the
Rebels dropped to 3-7 overall and
0-2 in the SEC.
The Gamecocks took two of
the three doubles matches.
Wojdylo and Boyanovich upset
34th ranked Mira Radu and
Virginia Tomatis, while Kenoyer
and Wiggins also won for USC.
In singles play, USC’s
Kenoyer, Wiggins and Wojdylo
would go on to win points for the
Gamecocks, gaining the victory.
Carolina tops MSU,
loses to the Rebels
The 15th-ranked Carolina
men’s tennis team used three sin
gles victories and a critical dou
bles win to open the SEC season
with a 4-3 win over Mississippi
State and improve its season
record to 8-0. MSU leads the all
time series 11-4, but USC’s four
victories have come in the past
six contests between the schools.
Tom Eklund and Marcus
Westman paced the Gamecocks
in doubles with an 8-5 win over
Romain Ambert and Rene
Charles Combette. Seth Rose and
Carl Wermee clinched the No. 2
doubles point for the Gamecocks
with a 9-7 win over Florent Girod
and Jerome Le Belicard.
Angelo Niculescu, Ben
Atkinson and Wermee all won
singles matches.
Sunday, TJSC lost 4-2 to
eighth-ranked Ole Miss.
-1
Keeping an eye on the ball
PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
Kathy Boyanovlch gets ready to backhand the bail during a match in February. Boyanovlch and
the USC women’s tennis team beat Mississippi State and Mississippi over the weekend.
Senkiw
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
demonstrate his or her feelings
toward America. If the coach
thinks it is disrespectful and
goes against the team’s guide
lines, then that coach should re
move the player.
If other players they are being
disrespected, they have a right
to quit or ask the coach to re
move the demonstrator. The
whole problem I have is the loss
of focus this can bring to a team.
These women are attending a
college to get an education and
play basketball. If someone is
keeping this from happening,
that person should be taken out
of the picture. It is distracting for
the other women, as well as the
coaches, to be caught up in this.
Even though I would kick
Smith off my team, I do admire
her courage and zeal. She knew
what kind of trouble she was stir
ring up and didn’t do this for any
national attention. As far as peo
ple running out on the court with
flags and fans booing her on road
games, these people are equally
demonstrating their views, and
it’s something Smith must deal
with.
It becomes illegal if violence
or any kind of property damage
occurs, but if that never hap
pens, Smith must take the na
tional outcry.
It strikes me as important to
address this issue because of the
past. Athletes have protested
during many Olympic events,
and it is now something we don’t
just hear about — we live it.
People have the right to protest
either side of the issue. I just
wish Toni Smith could protest
outside of a basketball stadium,
for her team and her school.
Senkiw is a third-year print
journalism student.
Basketball
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
play was a “coach’s choice.”
Center Tony Kitchings also
struggled in the outing with six
' points and only one rebound.
Freije led the Commodores
with 22 points, and center Brian
Thornton scored 13. Vanderbilt
now falls to 0-10 on the road.
Despite the Commodore’s
subpar road record, Odom
knew the win for the Game
cocks wasn’t a simple task.
“This certainly was not an
easy win,” Odom said. “But it
was much needed.”
The Gamecocks return to
action on Wednesday when
they travel to Alabama in a re
match of one of last year’s SEC
Tournament semifinal games.
Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m.
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OXFORD, MISS. (AP) — Despite
the absence of leading scorer
Jocelyn Penn, No. 16 South
Carolina had no trouble beating
Mississippi.
Penn, the nation’s fourth-lead
ing scorer at 24.9 points per game,
sat out the regular-season finale
with a sprained ankle, but sever
al Gamecocks picked up the slack
in a 91-68 victory on Sunday.
“This game was for J.P,” said
Gamecock guard Sarah Burgess,
who had a career-high 15 points.
“We wanted to come out and play
well without her and we were able
to get off to a fast start.”
Cristina Ciocan had 23 points,
nine rebounds and six assists,
Kelly Morrone scored 19 points,
Petra Ujhelyi had 16 and Olga
Gritsaeva 10 for South Carolina.
South Carolina started the
game with a 13-0 run and scored
its second-highest point total of the
season.
The Gamecocks (21-6,9-5 SEC)
Ash Wednesday
I
§
March 5,2003
Masses:
8:00 a.m.
12:15 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
St. Thomas More Catholic Chapel
1610 Gfreene St.
Opposite the Nursing Building
799-5870
http://wvyw.stthomasmoreusc.org
L__
Carolina “Productions Presents: *
fln Cvening with
Susan £. Jayfot
Wednesday, Match 5ih
Russell House ballroom
7:30pm•
www.sa.sc.edu/cp
_