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□JOCK ♦ Monday, March 24, 2003 9 ^ | ^ GAME SCHEDULE M \ I I [ I I 1 SOFTBALL at Arkansas (DH), 5 p.m. Tuesday ■ I—^ I WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Penn State at NCAA Tournament A I l in University Park, Pa., 5 p.m. Tuesday \ / I I | L / MEN’S TENNIS vs. Clemson, 2 p.m. Wednesday "N—s BASEBALL at Furman, 7:15 p.m. Wednesday WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Auburn, 2 p.m. Friday USC stays alive in NCAAs Despite being in foul trouble, Cristina Ciocan leads the Gamecocks in second-half run en route to victory 1 a^ UT-Chatt. 54 affti (26-5) B ^ 68 BY DAN LEWERENZ the associated press STATE COLLEGE, PA. - Cristina Ciocan spent most of the first half and a good deal of the second on the bench in foul trouble, so when she did get back into the game, she made her remaining minutes count. Ciocan scored eight of her 18 points during a 13-0 second-half run, lifting South Carolina past Chattanooga 68-54 Sunday in the f Mideast Regional’s first round. Cristina get ting in foul trouble early really affect ed us,” South Carolina coach Susan Walvius said. “She’s been a WaMus great player for us all year long, especially as we fin ished the SEC season.” Ciocan played just seven min utes in the first half after picking up her third foul just 7 1/2 min utes into the game. She started again in the second half, but went back to the bench after picking up her fourth with 17 1/2 minutes left. i When Ciocan returned mid way through the second half, the fifth-seeded Gamecocks (23-7) trailed 49-48. Koretha Johnson made a free throw to tie the game, then Ciocan scored eight of the next 12 points, including an open jumper that made it 61-49 with 3:18 left. “I was anxious to be in the game, but I wasn’t anxious to score,” Ciocan said. “I just want ed to be there for my teammates and come out with a W.” The No. 12-seed Lady Mocs (26 5) went scoreless for almost seven minutes before Miranda Warfield hit a baseline jumper to make it 61-51 with 2:54 left. “We hit a stretch there where we didn’t score. We missed some free throws, turned it over,” Chattanooga coach Wes Moore said. “Late in the game, we gave up a layup to (Jocelyn) Penn. It seemed like they were getting sec ond and third shots during that stretch.” Ponrt orlrlnH 1 ^ nAmtc onH Sarah Burgess scored 11 for the Gamecocks. Warfield led Chattanooga with 18 points, and Tiffany Patton added 14. South Carolina trailed 22-18 in the first half before going on a 12-0 run. Burgess hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 9:27 left to start the run and created two steals that set up Gamecock bas kets. Penn hit two free throws, a shot from the low block and a 3 pointer to make it 30-22 with six minutes left. “I was anxious to be in the game, but i wasn’t anxious to score. I just wanted to be there for my teammates and come out with a W.” CRISTINA CIOCAN use WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GUARD Walvius said Burgess, a fresh man, had been more of an offen sive threat recently, but “in this game she did a lot for us defen sively. One of the reasons we brought her to South Carolina is just the fire in her game.” The Gamecocks will now face fourth-seeded Penn State on Tuesday after the Nittany Lions defeated the No. 13-seed Holy Cross Crusaders 64-33. Game time is scheduled for 5 p.m. The winner will move on to the Mideast Regional semifinals against the winner of the Tennessee and Virginia game. USC vs. Penn State 5 p.m., Tuesday Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pa. TV: ESPN2 Vols make clean sweep of Gamecock baseball by matt rothenberg and brad senkiw THE GAMECOCK The Gamecock baseball team has shown that it can dominate its nonconference schedule, but its SEC schedule remains another sto ry. Following two losses in a three game series with Arkansas, the 14th-ranked Gamecocks (16-8,1-5 SEC) dropped all three games to the Tennessee Volunteers (14-8,4 2) in Knoxville this past weekend. USC, the 2002 SEC regular-season champion, is struggling to score runs, a problem that continued in Knoxville. USC lost the series opener 3-0, as well as dropping a 4-2 decision in the second game. Carolina fell in the final game 10-6. Friday: Tenn. 3 - USC 0 Carolina’s starting pitcher, Steven Bondurant, carried a no hitter into the eighth inning, but lost it when Tennessee’s Kyle Norrid hit a one-out single. Following a walk to Justin Branson, Bondurant was taken out in favor of Aaron Rawl. The first batter Rawl faced, Jordan Czamiecki, hit a three-run home run, which ended up being the difference in the Gamecocks’ loss. Bondurant suffered the loss, dropping his record to 2-1, but struck out eight batters. USC only managed three hits on the day, two of them from Brian Buscher and the other by Kevin Melillo. Ben Riley pitched eight innings for the Vols, picking up the win, his second of the season, while Luke Hochevar got the save. Saturday: Tenn. 4 - USC 2 Despite a 12-hit performance, the Gamecocks couldn’t come from behind to beat the Volunteers on Saturday. USC struck first in the opening inning, when Buscher scored on Landon Powell’s RBI double, but the Vols took it from there. Tennessee responded in the third inning with a RBI single by Czarniecki, and they added two more runs in the fourth inning, courtesy of Chad LeGate’s two-run single. USC cut the lead in half when Bryan Triplett scored on a balk, but Norrid came in on a sacrifice bunt to close out the game. Carolina starting pitcher David Marchbanks (4-2) only lasted three and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and re ceiving the loss. Replacing Marchbanks, Chris Hernandez fin ished the game for USC and gave up a run on three hits. ♦ BASEBALL, SEEPAGE 10 FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Aaron Rawl gave up two game-winning horns runs In the Gamecocks’ series against the Volunteers this past weekend. i. __'..T_:.r..£i..v_-■ _£3 FILE PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK Jocelyn Penn contributed 15 points and nine rebounds in Carolina’s first-round win over Chattanooga. USC plays the fourth-seeded Penn State Nlttany Lions in the second round. Odom reflects on the past season BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s basketball team, a year removed from an NIT championship game ap pearance, failed to reach post season play with its 12-16 record in the 2002-03 season. With four graduating seniors, head coach Dave Odom and the rest of the team will forge ahead, but not without first re flecting on this past season. The results of this season were as plain as day, according to Odom, and that is something he thinks he is responsible for. Nevertheless, he maintains that the coaching staff is work ing to find the answers. “I don’t feel good about the results for obvious reasons. Statistics don’t lie,” Odom said. “We did not have a winning season, and we did not accom plish post-season goals, and I feel accountable and responsi ble for that. “I think we all know what happened and what did not happen. In most cases, I think we miuw wny. oini, in planning for next season, it is good for me to talk to my staff and team about the why and how and what for and all those ques tions that come up. To air those publicly is not in our best in terest right now. I think it would put a slant on the season that would be harmful.” In starting his preparation for next season, Odom noted that he expects all returning players to come back in the fall. As for how much of a role they will have in the team’s future, Odom believes that “given the proper commitment, each one of those players will have an opportunity to contribute to our team next year.” Carolina will have to find some sort of offense for next season. The team as a whole shot 42.1 percent from the field, but a dismal 29.6 percent from behind the arc. With the de partures of Chuck Eidson, Chris Warren, Tony JCitchings and Marius Petravicius, the cupboard is not anywhere near bare. Carlos Powell, the team’s leading scorer with 12.6 points per game, returns, as will Rolando Howell, the leading re bounder. Yet Odom thinks that there is much more room for im provement, and it starts with an intangible — leadership. It continues with banging the glass and making shots. “The most critical thing right now is off-season and in season leadership. That is the one thing that must surface. We have got to get a core of players to show great leader ship,” he said. “When you look at definitive things, our re bounding must improve. Rebounding was at the bottom of the SEC, and there is no ex cuse for that with our size. Our rebounding has got to be im proved, and it will be. “Offensively, we have got to re-establish the balance be tween our in side and out side. I do think a lot of that will take care of itself because we have got bet ter shooters coming in. iveuave gui uiaive siucuui 111 side players are converting more; we didn’t convert the ball inside nearly like we should have last year,” Odom said. Prior to the start of the sea son, Odom praised the sched ule his Gamecocks were going to play this year. Now, he notes that USC had one of the most difficult seasons in the country — partly because of a tough SEC slate, as well as a chal lenging nonconference sched ule. A number of Carolina’s non-conference opponents ' made postseason play, includ ing South Carolina State, Georgetown, North Carolina State and Temple. “I saw Georgia had the toughest schedule in the coun try and we were No. 2. We played in the best league in the country this year, and the strength of our nonconference schedule plus injuries made for ♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 10 “I don’t feel good about the results for obvious reasons. Statistics don’t lie.” DAVE ODOM use HEAD BASKETBALL COACH Olympic team can use Allen Iverson BRAD SENKIW GAMECOCKSPORTS<g»HOTMAIL.COM U.S. basketball team needs guard’s passion. With the NBA playoff race and the heating-up battle for how many bad teams in the Eastern Conference can get in, the most compelling story in the league is not even about this season. Players and fans are venting about the fact that Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson has not been select ed to play for the U.S. basketball team competing in the 2004 Olympics. It was announced that Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd and Mike Bibby have been the first five of ficially selected Olympic players with Kobe Bryant and possibly Shaquille O’Neal H competing, as wen. How is Iverson not on this team al ready? His head coach, Larry Brown, was named coach of the Iverson Olympic team, but Allen is still wait ing for the phone call. Shaq was very upset that Iverson has not been selected and decided to blast Bibby. O’Neal said Bibby was un known when he was in Vancouver and that since Bibby is on the team and Iverson isn’t, Shaq says he “ain’t going.” “Larry Brown should have said, ‘If he’s not oh the team, I’m not going,’ ” O’Neal said. Maybe the committee that se lects these players hasn’t noticed, but everyone wants Iverson on this team. I agree that he has a rough past and isn’t the ultimate role model, but I can guarantee that with his presence on this team, the U.S. won’t have to wor ry about being beaten by some of these lesser-known basketball countries. There will be no prob lem getting guys to focus on actu ally medalling instead of embar rassing the nation. Iverson is arguably the most competitive player in the NBA. Being 6-foot-nothing and a frac tion of the weight of the guys he goes up against, Iverson is the most exciting player to watch take the ball to the basket. He doesn’t wow you with earth-shattering dunks. Instead, Allen uses in credible speed and the ability to get shots over 7 footers. It would be a travesty if Brown doesn’t step up for his star and get him on the team. Bibbv Iverson’s play of late has to im press everyone because of his un selfishness. He has begun to get other teammates involved be cause he knows that will win them more games than if he just sits outside and bombs 3-pointers. I’m not going to go the Shaq route and put Bibby down. I do think Bibby is a solid player, but he is no Allen Iverson. He is nowhere near the scorer and doesn’t have enough of that “ You can’t-stop-me” attitude Iverson possesses. If the selection committee is seeing Iverson’s arrests and off the-court fiascos as a reason to keep him out of the Olympics, please think again. He might have several tattoos and wear crazy braids in his hair, but no one can bring the fire and passion that is needed to make Olympic basket ball what it used to be like Iverson. Also, I like the fact that these NBA players are making state ments about other guys. It shows the amount of respect players ♦ SENKIW, SEEPAGE 10