University of South Carolina Libraries
% ^ 7 Game.Sehedule MEN’S TENNIS SEC Indoor PrintArt |c Championships in Atlanta, Ga. OUII La CL UO MEN’S AND WOMEN’S SWIMMING Story ideas? Questions? Comments? at World Cup in Huntersvile, N.C. E-mail us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Tennessee, 5 p.m., Saturday '■-- T?.-.it. ~ ■■ '■ ■ ■■ ■■■ - ' - - ■....-- . .. Women’s basketball falls to Tennessee ® Tennessee 86 0 use 58 BY JONATHAN HILLYARD THE GAMECOCK The fifth-ranked Tennessee Lady Volunteers marched into the Colonial Center unscathed by the rowdy Carolina crowd of 8,118 to defeat the USC women’s basket ball team 86-58 last night. “We came out with a lot of re spect for South Carolina and we made a solid club look not as good as I know they are,” said Tennessee head coach Pat ^femmitt. me neavuy tavored Vois justi fied their ranking by shooting an outstanding 54.2 percent from the field in the game. Coming into the contest ranked second in the SEC in 3-point percentage, UT also shot a ridiculous 45.5 percent from be hind the arc. However, the key to the game was the Tennessee defense, forc ing 27 turnovers and recording 17 steals. USC’s offense, ranked third in the SEC in field goal percent age and second in scoring offense, shot just 39.6 percent from the field. The game started in a very ugly fashion for Carolina as Tennessee jumped out to a 9-0 lead in just the first three minutes of the game. The Gamecocks j^fciuld respond and tie the game ^^19, bringing the fans in the Colonial Center to their feet, but a 30-9 run by UT at the end of the Gamecocks drop fifth straight game with loss to Lady Volunteers half would take away any hope of an upset. The Vols scored 22 points off 16 Carolina turnovers in the first half compared to the 4 points that USC would record off 10 Volunteer first half turnovers. Tennessee would Volunteers with 16 points and 9 re bounds in just 25 minutes on the floor, with 15 points and 7 re bounds coming in the first half. Other scorers in double figures for UT included Shanna Zolman, who put up 15 points and went 3 tinisn tne nrst half shooting an outstanding 63 percent from the field. “I am really unhappy with the mental toughness of tViic team “I am really unhappy with the mental toughness of this team tonight.” SUSAN WALVIUS use HEAD COCH ot-4 trom behind the arc, and Loree Moore, who finished with 13 points and 4 rebounds. The Volunteers look to soar in next week’s polls Vmh onoo tonight,” said USC coach Susan Walvius. “We didn’t do the little things that you need to win a bas ketball game — rebounding, de fense, boxing out. Those things are necessary to win.” Gamecock leading scorer guard Cristina Ciocan was outstanding in the first 10 minutes of the game, with 6 points, 3 assists and 4 re bounds, but was taken complete ly out of the game by the UT de fense. She would finish with 8 points and 11 rebounds for the game. The bright spot for USC was freshman guard Lauren Simms, who finished the contest with 22 points. Sophomore guard Sarah Burgess also added 8 points, 2 as sists and 2 rebounds for the Gamecocks. Forward Shyra Ely led the teams ahead of them lost to un ranked opponents. The Gamecocks will now stay at home for a very important SEC showdown against western divi sion foe Arkansas. The Lady Razorbacks (12-3,1-1 SEC) are com ing off a big 67-61 home win against division rival Ole Miss and are looking to go above .500 in SEC play. The Lady Razorbacks are led by senior forward Shameka Christon who put up 24 last Sunday against Ole Miss. Christon is averaging 22 points and 8 rebounds per game. USC will look to wrap up their first SEC win on Sunday against the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks at 2 p.m. in the Colonial Center. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu PHOTO BY MARK SHILLING/THE GAMECOCK Guard Lauren Simms takes a shot against Tennessee. Simms scored a career-high 22 points. Men’s.Basketbal! Gamecocks come off big win, looking at tough home stand Big conference win prepares % men's team for Volunteers BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s basketball team defeated Auburn 53-51 Wednesday night in an overtime thriller that gave the Gamecocks their second confer ence win and momentum going into Saturday’s game against the Tennessee Volunteers. The Gamecocks (15-2, 2-1 SEC) used a suffocating defense to keep Auburn (10-4, 1-2) in check throughout the game, holding the Tigers to 16-of-63 shooting from the floor. Forward Carlos Powell led the Gamecocks, finishing with a game-high 19 points and 7 re bounds. Forward Kerbrell Brown and guard Josh Gonner scored 10 points apiece to help USC break a six-game losing streak to Auburn. Powell’s biggest moment came with about 30 seconds remaining in overtime. With the score knotted at 51, Auburn’s guard Nathan Watson looked to create a good shot for the potential game-winner. Powell blan keted Watson as he tried to bring the ball up the court, and with 13 seconds remain ing, Powell popped the ball out of Watson’s grip and drove to the basket for the game win ning layup. “That’s like blitzing on a key fourth down play,” said WISW AM1230 radio announcer Mike Morgan. “Sometimes, being ag gressive is the right call.” Though the Gamecocks strug gled from the floor, with 24-of-65 shooting, and the free-throw line, 2-of-7, it was their stellar defense, ranked in the nation’s top 25 in six categories, that al lowed them to stay close and eventually pull out the win. The USC defense is ranked first in the SEC in scoring defense, and their opponent’s field goal per centage is the lowest in the na tion. USC will face another team coming off a big conference win when they host Tennessee (10-2,2-1), who de feated No. 23 Vanderbilt 76-66 Wednesday. The Volunteers exploded offensively against Vanderbilt, with two juniors, guard Scooter McFadgon and forward Brandon Crump each pouring in 20 points. Tennessee’s defense also looked solid in their win over the Commodores as the Vols held SEC preseason player of the year Matt Freije to 8 points on 2-of-12 shooting. Tennessee basketball fans are surely relieved by the win over Vanderbilt, as the Vols were coming off a 95-57 blowout loss at Florida. Many Vol fans had their doubts ♦BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 8 :. . . - • • Men’s basketball defensive play excellent in SEC games BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK Carolina men’s basketball, far from the dire predictions of the preseason prognosticators, has clearly turned things around this season. After all, even after a one-loss non-con ference schedule, some still looked askance at USC since its non-conference strength of schedule is ranked a very low 312 out of all Division I basket ball teams. However, the Gamecocks have performed well enough in the early going of the SEC season for some fans to eye an NCAA berth. Indeed, USC is currently a po tential No. 12 seed in the Midwest Region, according to the ESPN.com Bracketology section, which is headed up by Joe Lunardi. Of course, an NIT (National Invitation Tournament) berth would be a great end to the sea son, also. It would still be a los ing season to postseason turnaround in one year, but it would give Gamecock fans and placers a chance at home post season games before a possible NIT Final Four trip to New York City’s Madison Square Garden. In the Florida game, even with heinous shot selection and shoot ing percentage in the first half, Carolina had every chance to win the game due to a tenacious de fense that once again held the op ponent to under 50 percent from the field. “Everyone talks about who South Carolina plays but to me they are a very good basketball team,” Florida head coach Billy Donovan said. “We had a difficult time matching up with them. We really had a difficult time dealing with them off of the dribble.” Actually, then-No. 14 Florida only shot about 43 percent from the field and had eight more turnovers than the Gamecocks, while USC held Gator star guard Anthony Roberson to just 5 points and 2 rebounds. Showing a resilience that was surprising from a team that only had one road SEC win last year, Carolina followed up the Florida loss with a complete thrashing of a Georgia team that had just upset then-No. 3 Georgia Tech. The USC defense played a complete game, steal ing in-bounds passes and mak ♦ DEFENSE, SEE PAGE 8 Former USC player may make move to England BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK According to wire reports on Wednesday, for ^gr USC men’s soccer and Major League Soccer ^lyer Clint Mathis is trying out for a spot with Sunderland, which is in the English first division, the second-level soccer league in England, behind the English Premier League. Mathis’ contract with MLS team the New York/New Jersey MetroStars expired at the end of 2003 and was not renewed. In addition to looking at Sunderland, Mathis has been working with Hannover 96 of Germany’s Bundesliga. Mathis was scheduled to practice with the German team at its training camp in Turkey yesterday. Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy was look ing at Mathis as a backup to his current slate of * * * ♦ MATHIS, SEE PAGE 8 PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Former USC player Clint Mathis may play on an English professional team this year. 65 baseball players ask clubs for higher salaries in arbitration BY RONALD BLUM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AL Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay, 2001 NL Rookie of the Year Albert Pujols and New York Yankees second baseman Alfonso Soriano were among 65 players who filed for salary arbi tration Thursday, the fewest to submit their names since 1999. Houston pitchers Wade Miller, Roy Oswalt and Octavio Dotel also filed, as did Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood, Anaheim pitcher Jarrod Washburn and Florida pitchers Brad Penny and Carl Pavano. Two free agent pitchers who ac cepted arbitration offers from their former teams also were in the group: Philadelphia’s Kevin Millwood and the New York Yankees’ Gabe White. Clubs have made an effort in re cent years to force deals with non star players well before mid January, threatening not to offer them contracts unless they settled before filing. Seventy-two players filed last year, down from 90 in 2002 and 102 in 2001. Just 62 filed in 1999. Many of those who filed are ex pected to settle by Tuesday when players and teams exchange pro posed salaries —just 34 players swapped figures with their teams last year. For those who don’t set tle, hearings before three arbitra tor panels will be scheduled dur ing the first three weeks of February. \ Just seven cases went to hear ings last year, with owners win ning five and increasing their record to 259-194 since arbitration began in 1974, Players have not won a majori ty of a year’s hearings since 1996, but owners complain about arbi tration because of the huge raises many players receive in the pro cess, which is largely limited to those with at least fhree but less than six years of major league ser vice. Three players who had been el igible agreed to contracts Thursday, with San Diego right hander Adam Eaton getting a $5.25 million, two-year deal. Cubs closer Joe Borowski receiving a $4.3 mil lion, two-year agreement and Seattle catcher Ben Davis getting a $1.4 million, one-year deal.