The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 17, 2003, Page 10, Image 10
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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
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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.