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- 1 * •' 10 THE GAMECOCK * Monday, March 17, 2003 GAME SCHEDULE ■ "V / ^ w m m / NJ MEN’S GOLF at Cleveland Golf Collegiate in Aiken, Monday I I a ml Bril L 1 through Tuesday CONTACT US I 1 ^ WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Tulsa, 1:30 p.m. Tuesday ■ Him ■ i BASEBALL vs. Wofford, 7 p.m. Wednesday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I B F I I 111 MEN’S TENNIS at North Carolina, 2:30 p.m. Thursday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com I I _I_ fV^/ BASEBALL at Tennessee, 7 p.m. Friday ' _ USC loses two to Arkansas BY EiRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK - The USC baseball team (15-5,1 2 SEC) kept busy over spring break, finishing a seven-game hoinestand with a record of 4-3. The Gamecocks won a three-game ser ies against Radford (3-4), took cajre of Western Carolina (11-7) and lost the SEC season-opening se:ries against Arkansas (16-2,2-1). • March 12: USC 5 V/estern Carolina 2 Conor Lalor grabbed his third win of the year and remained un defeated as the Gamecocks k nocked off Western Carolina 5 2 . Lalor pitched 6 2/3 innings, al lowing one run on four hits and striking out five. Aaron Rawl came in from the bullpen to get Inis second save of the season. Jared Greenwood pinch hit in the seventh inning and hit a three-run homer off Brandon McDowell for the first home run of his career. Brian Buscher also added an RBI in the first inning and went 3-for-4 in the win. March 14: USC 7 Arkansas 2 The Gamecocks opened the SEC season with a 7-2 victory over Arkansas on Friday. It was an of fensive explosion for Carolina; Buscher homered twice, giving him four on the season, and Bryan Triplett added one as well. Buscher went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and Landon Powell went 3 for-4 with two RBIs. Steve Bondurant (2-0) picked up the win and went five innings with seven hits allowed, two runs and six strikeouts. Rawl once again came in to pitch the last .four innings and recorded his third save of the season. March 16 Game 1: Aik. 2- USC 1 Game 2: Ark. 4 - USC 1 Because Saturday’s game was PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Jon Coutlangus slides into first base as he beat the pickoff attempt from an Arkansas pitcher. The Gamecocks managed to take only one game from the Razorbacks in a three-game series. rained out, Carolina was forced to play Arkansas in a doubleheader Sunday. The Gamecocks dropped the first game 2-1 as Marchbanks (4-1) took the loss and the team _ managed only three hits. The Razorbacks scored their two runs in the third inning when Scott Hode’s two-run single gave Arkansas all the offense it need ed. Carolina got its only run in the fifth when Tolleson brought Triplett home with a sacrifice fly. ♦ BASEBALL, SEEPAGE 11 Gamecocks fall to Bulldogs in SECs ■ BY NICK YOUNG THE GAMECOCK The No. 16 USC women’s bas ketball team (22-7) lost to No. 10 Mississippi State (23-7) in a quar terfinal matchup Friday at the SEC Tournament in North Little Rock, Ark. With the 79-75 loss, Carolina lost the chance to boost its seeding for the NCAA wom en’s basketball tournament. The game was a rematch of one of Carolina’s most exciting games during the regular sea son. In that game, the Gamecocks trailed for most of the match and went into half time down by 14. After chipping away through out the second half, USC finally took the lead with two minutes left to play and won a crucial come-from-behind SEC game, 83 79, on Jan. 9. In Friday’s game, the Bulldogs were ahead for most of the con test, even with LaToya Thomas struggling to find her shooting touch. Thomas finished with 18 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Thomas’ woes allowed her team mates to step into larger roles and bail out the team. Tan White and DoCeide Warren each chipped in 20 points for the game. “Everybody has to be in volved, even the bench,” Thomas said about Mississippi State’s win. “Everybody stepped up to take the pressure off me. I never did get into an offensive rhythm, so I worked on my defense and on going after rebounds.” After a tight first half, the two teams went into halftime with the score close; Carolina was down 35-34. After a Cristina Ciocan basket cut the score to 42 38 early in the second half, Mississippi State went on a 12-0 run to bring its lead to 54-38. In the next three minutes, Petra Ujhelyi scored seven points to help cut the Bulldogs’ lead. Then, Ciocan scored seven straight points to pull her team within seven with 4:38 remain ing in the game and managed to throw a feeling of deja vu in the air. The Gamecocks were claw ing their way back into the con test with a few minutes left, just like in the regular season match up. With 18 seconds left, the Gamecocks were down 76-68 and still fighting. After being fouled on a 3-T>oint attempt, Kelly Morrone nailed all three shots to pull the score to 76-71. Jocelyn Penn then stole the inbound pass and converted on her layup to put the score at 76-73 with 10.6 seconds left. Blessing Chekwa, who scored 14 points and pulled down 10 re bounds, made one of her two free throws, putting Mississippi State up by four with just a few sec onds remaining. Ciocan went all the way down the court and scored on a layup to pull the Gamecocks within two points with two seconds left on the clock. The Bulldogs successful ly got the inbound pass to Thomas, who nailed both of her free throws to seal the victory for Mississippi State. “We never lost our hope that we could win this game,” Ciocan said. “We fought to the end, even though we should have started earlier.” renn nnisnea me game wnn 20 points but scored only six in the second half. Morrone, Ciocan and Ujhelyi rounded out Carolina’s top scorers with 18,16 and 13 points, respectively. Mississippi State out-re bounded Carolina by a margin of 56-29, including an astonish ing 25 offensive rebounds, which led to 24 points. “To see 25 offensive rebounds, just think of all the second chances you get there,” Mississippi State head coach Sharon Fanning said. “We were taking good shots, and we just kept working.” Carolina’s next opponent is Chattanooga, as it begin the first round of the NCAA tournament in University Park, Pa. If the team wins, it will play the wirf ner of the Penn State and Holy Cross game as it looks to win the team’s first-ever NCAA crown. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Carolina wins five over its long homestand BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE UAMECOCK The USC softball team had a busy and successful spring break, as the 15th-ranked Gamecocks went 5-2 in games against Mississippi State, Northern Illinois and Louisiana State. Carolina (19-6,3-1 SEC) opened its slate of games taking 2-of-3 from MSU, then sweeping Northern Illinois in a double header and finally splitting a dou bleheader with the Tigers. March 8: MSU 6-USC 2 The Bulldogs opened the scor ing in the top of the third inning, when Krystal Tillman drove a triple to right field, bringing in Brooke Best and Callye Williams. Jennifer Nelson then singled in Tillman to close the scoring for MSU in the third. USC responded with a run in the bottom of the inning when Jodi Fittro scored on an error, but the Bulldogs came back with three runs in the fifth to extend their lead. * Carolina’s Amber Curtis scored on a wild pitch in the bot tom of the fifth, but it was too lit tle, too late. March 8: USC 11 - MSU 3 The Gamecocks used a five-run second inning to beat the Bulldogs in six innings. Melanie Henkes gave up two earned runs on six hits to earn her eighth vic tory. Meghan Cornett and Tia Rogers scored on an error to open the scoring for Carolina, while Kim Evans came home on a sac rifice fly. Fittro hit a two-run homer as USC padded its lead over the Bulldogs. MSU scored a run in the third inning, but wild pitches brought in Danielle Quinones and Ashley Smith to end the Bulldog threat. The Gamecocks added three PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Melanie Henkes unleashes a pitch against Louisiana State. The Gamecocks split a doubleheader with the Tigers. more runs in the fourth inning, but it was Kristin Hall’s single that ended the game in the sixth inning. March 9: USC 5-MSU 2 Henkes, who won her second game in two days, relieved Stacey Johnson to help the Gamecocks win over the Bulldogs. USC scored three runs in the first inning, giving the team all it would need to defeat MSU. Quinones drove in Curtis for the Gamecocks’ first run, while Rogers brought in Quinones and Fittro with a single of her own. Henkes entered in the fourth inning and struck out four. March 12: USC 5-NIU 1 Ashley Smith provided most of the offense USC needed in the first game of a doubleheader against NIU. The freshman catch er went 2-for-3, with a grand slam and two runs scored to lead the Gamecocks on Wednesday after noon. ♦ SOFTBALL, SEE PAGE 11 Gamecocks will miss postseason with SEC losses BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK Ole Miss 62 - USC 56 On paper, it had appeared that the reseeding of the SEC Tournament greatly benefited any chances the Gamecocks had of advancing through the tourna ment. Reality, however, shared a different story. USC was unable to last though the first round of the conference tournament as the Olg Miss Rebels (14-14) advanced by knocking off the Gamecocks (12-16), 62-56. Afterwards, USC head coach Dave Odom credited Ole Miss for playing strong defense as well as a solid inside game. “Their defensive pressure was what wd expected, but there were two factors that really stood out to me,” Odom said. “Their two in side post players were better than ours, and they absolutely annihi lated us at the free-throw line.” The first half gave little to hope for from the Gamecocks. The en tire team initially struggled with its shooting and relied on senior Chris Warren, who put up the team’s first nine points. USC man aged only 19 first-half points against the Rebels and trailed 25 19 at halftime. Carolina did show promise in the second half, however. It kept the game within a few points until the final minute. But when Carolina was down 55-54 after a Michael Boynton 3-pointer, David Sanders put in a layup to give the Rebels a three-point lead. USC at tempted a 2-point shot, but Rolando Howell was unable to hold on to the rebound. After Emmanuel. Wade was fouled, he made both free throws to secure the game for the Rebels with 25 seconds remaining. In his final game as a Gamecock, Warren continued his outstanding senior year and scored 20 points. Chuck Eidson put in his 16th double-figure scor ing game this season with 11 points. The Rebels were led by Justin Reed, who put up 22 points. The loss eliminated the Gamecocks from contention for any postseason tournament. Georgia 60 -USC 55 (OT) Before March 9, Georgia head coach Jim Harrick had never beaten the Gamecocks in Columbia. But in what was like ly his last game with the Bulldogs, Harrick got a monkey off his back as Georgia fought back from an 11-point deficit to upend USC in overtime, 60-55. “It was a disappointing loss,” Odom said. “We executed well and we expected to win. It cer tainly wasn’t for lack of opportu nities. Maybe we’re not at the point yet where we can cash in on something like this.” i* ♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 11 Action is set for a shocking tourney BRAD SENKIW GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM The NCAA committee does yearly shakeup. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. My Christmas has ar rived. The tree has been put up; the ornaments are in place; and on Thursday at noon, the lights will be turned on. That’s right, March Madness fans, it’s time to grab as many brackets as you can and brace yourself for one bumpy ride. I have a feeling this year’s tourna ment will make you feel like you’re riding a four-wheeler, not a Cadillac. After seeing what the conference tournaments brought us, I am almost too scared to even fill a bracket out. The science of bracketology will be turned up side-down like Darwin did to biol ogy. Now that the tournament com mittee has released what it thinks is the right seedings, I ask two questions: Did the committee members sleep all weekend? Did they catch too many movies and dinners and decide not to watch the conference tournaments? I say “yes” to both these questions based on several decisions they made. First, how did Alabama get into the tournament? The Crimson Tide not only bowed out of the first round of the SEC Tournament at the hands of Vanderbilt, but it fin ished the season 1-8 on the road. Alabama did not deserve a No. 10 seed considering it lost to Vandy twice in one season and went from No. 1 in the country in December to No. 5 in the SEC Western Division by March. Both Texas Tech and Boston College made more of an impression on me. Texas Tech upset Texas and took Oklahoma to overtime in its tour nament. Boston College won the Eastern Division of the Big East. Also, the top four seeds in the West bracket look more like the Final Four of the entire tourna ment. Arizona, who won the Pac 10 regular season and a No. 1 seed, might get to take on Kansas, Duke or Illinois. The committee must have missed the fact that Duke won the ACC Tournament for the fifth straight year. Yes, the team strug gled late in the regular season, but a great start to the season and three straight wins in its conference tournament should have gotten it more respect than a No. 3 spot against tough opponents. Unfortunately, Duke is not the only conference tournament winner in its region. Illinois cruised through the Big Ten Tournament and prob ably deserved something higher than a four seed. i tJAds iiduut;u wncu i ilium io a questionable one seed. It was up set by a team that didn’t get into the big dance in the Big 12 Tournament. Kansas or Pittsburgh seems a bit stronger than Texas does right now. I understand the committee has harder decisions than President Bush does right now, but please watch what happens in the confer ence tourneys. They say those games are played for a reason but then ignore the outcomes. And this idea about reseeding tjie Final Four teams is ridiculous. At least the committee has totally dis missed this horrible reasoning. The point of the tournament is to play whoever is in front of you, and changing that near the end of the whole thing ruins the surprises. My advice to all bracketeers out there is to close your eyes, let your pencil roam the paper, and what ever team you land on, pick it to win it all. In the meantime, don’t put money on any bracket and put on your seat belt for the next three weeks of intense, stellar action known as the NCAA Tournament. Senkiw is a th ird-year print- ' journalism student.