Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Women CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 outside the SEC have had the opportunity to see Cristina Ciocan play yet,” Walvius said. “She is-one of the best point guards in the nation who can score, drive to the basket, pass the ball and play defense. If she has the season that we’re expecting, she will be our fifth first-round WNBA pick in three years.” Another player to watch is senior Kelly Morrone. After fighting through each of her first three injury-plagued seasons, Morrone could finally be able to play to her full potential as one of the top 3-point shooters in the SEC. Another area Morrone excels in is leadership, as she was named a captain each of her first three seasons. “We will count on our three seniors, Cristina Ciocan, Kelly Morrone and Kasia Roszak, for leadership this season and they have already taken on this role with the younger players,” Walvius said. The Gamecocks have a difficult road ahead df them this season, and it all starts with a road game against archrival Clemson. USC opened the season last year in the Colonial Center’s first game in front of 17,712 fans with a victory over the Tigers. “We are going to be tested on the road' this year,” Walvius said. “Playing this many good teams will prepare our team for postseason play and will further es tablish our team’s reputation national ly-” Other highlights of the schedule include a game against North Carolina in Myrtle Beach and the team’s first regular-season nationally televised game on CBS when they take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Gamecocks’ SEC schedule features the usual home sellout against Tennessee and games against other perennial power houses such as Vanderbilt and LSU. As far as expectations go, Walvius doesn’t waver from her main goal. “Any time that your team makes the NCAA tournament and is ranked in the top 20 in the final polls, you have to be somewhat pleased,” head coach Susan Walvius said. “But that’s not where we want to be as a team.,We want to be rec ognized as one of the nation’s top pro grams and we will work on that this year.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com ......v. FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Guard Kelly Morrone is back for her senior season and hopes to lead the Gamecocks to their third-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. L