The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 23, 2004, Page 8, Image 8
8 Game.Scheduie
WOMEN'S SWIMMING vs. Miami (Fla.), 11 a.m. Saturday
MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. LSU, 7:30 p.m. Saturday
n WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Kentucky, 2 p.m. Sunday
Contact. US MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK at SEC Invitational,
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Women’s.Basketball,
Carolina suffers 7th straight loss
■
BY WES WOLFE
TIIK (JAMECOCK
The USC women’s basketball
team (8-8, 0-4 SEC) continued on
its slide last night with a loss at
Florida, 61-56. The Gators im
proved to 13-5 overall and 3-2 in the
SEC. Carolina only trailed by one
point at halftime, but Florida man
aged to hit one more field goal and
five more free throws than the
Gamecocks in the second half to
take the win.
“We had a couple of lulls offen
sively in the game,” said USC head
coach Susan Walvius. “One of the
things we’ve gone to in practice is
being aggressive yet patient. For
the most part today, we did a good
job of that. There were periods in
this game when the score was
close when I thought we got a little
quick and tried to force some
things that weren’t there, but I’m
pleased with the way we played of
fensively and I thought we did a
good job, but Florida had an an
swer for everything we did today.”
The star of the game was UF
center Vanessa Hayden, who went
9-of-18 from the field and 10-of-14
from the free throw line, tallied up
a remarkable 28 points against the
Gamecocks.
“Vanessa’s a great player. Not
only was she able to catch and
score, but she works very hard to
get second shot opportunities,”
Walvius said. “She had a great
game. We would have two or three
people on her and she could turn
around and score and shoot over
people. That’s tough to defend.”
The senior from Orlando also
notched her 12th double-double of
the season and 45th of her career
in last night’s match-up. Hayden
grabbed 17 rebounds in the game,
collecting her 1,000th rebound of
her career, which makes her the
fifth player in Florida history to
get 1,000 points and 1,000 re
bounds.
Carolina was led in the game by
guard Cristina Ciocan, who got 16
points, six rebounds and four as
sists. Forward Iva Sliskovic also
had a relatively good game, scor
ing 14 points with five rebounds
and three assists. Walvius said in
the press conference following the
home loss against Arkansas that
she was putting more pressure on
Ciocan to lead the team, which was
evidenced in Ciocan’s leading the
team in points, rebounds and as
sists.
However, it wasn’t enough for
Carolina down the stretch against
Florida, and USC wasn’t able to hit
a field goal for the final five min
utes of the game.
The Gamecocks had a chance
to tie the game at 59 in the final
seconds, but guard Kelly Morrone
wasn’t able to hit the long-range
shot.
“We were dov/n three, so we
needed to take a three,” Walvius
said. “We ran the play we wanted.
We executed it well. Kelly Morrone
is a money shooter for us and she’s
the person we went to. She took a
good shot, but it just didn’t fall.”
Hayden nabbed the rebound
from the Morrone shot, which was
her 1,000th rebound, hit a shot at
the other end of the court to pro
vide the final score.
“South Carolina is a much bet
ter team than their record in the
conference demonstrates,” Florida
head coach Carolyn Peck said.
“They’ve got weapons. They found
different ways to score from shoot
ing the three to the hi-low game.
Defensively, they were able to mix
up things on us to throw us off bal
ance and make us read a little bit,
which slowed down our transition
game down at first. I think our
team demonstrated a lot of matu
rity because they didn’t lose their
composure and that’s extremely
important in the SEC because
team’s are going to make runs.”
USC returns home on Sunday
to take on Kentucky.
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PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMEC1
Guard Sarah Burgess lunges for the ball in last week's loss
against Tennessee. Burgess had four points against Florida.
USC, UK evenly matched in search for SEC win
BY BRIAN SAAL
THEUAMECOCK
The USC women’s basketball
team (8-8, 0-4 SEC) is hoping to
snap the current two-game home
losing streak against tough in-con
ference rival Kentucky (8-9, 0-4).
Last year’s contest between the
two teams finished in a 97-51
Carolina victory.
The Wildcats will bring high
scoring 6-foot 4-inch center SeSe
Helm and 3-point threat guard
Sara Potts to prevent the
Gamecocks from getting their first
SEC victory of the season. Potts is
currently second on Kentucky’s
all-time 3-point field-goals-made
list. This year’s Gamecock leading
scorer, guard Cristina Ciocan,
hopes to continue her success
against the Wildcats as she scored
13 and 21 points in two games
against UK last season. She is also
leading the country in assists.
Forward Iva Sliskovic has been
the second-most consistent shoot
er in the country, making just
over 70 percent of her shots. Look
for guard Lauren Simms to light
it up as she is averaging 11.7
points in her last four games.
Both teams have struggled scor
ing points in four SEC games this
year, averaging close to 60 points
each. Kentucky’s defense has been
allowing 72.2 points per game
while Carolina has given up 71.7
points. The Wildcats have shot
very well from the free throw line,
leading the SEC in free throw per
centage. Both teams are struggling
from the field, averaging a little
over 35 percent of their shots.
The Gamecocks hope to get
their shooting touch back that
they had during their eight game
winning streak, when they scored
84.6 points per game. The
Gamecocks have lost just one
game when scoring more than 58
points.
Both teams are looking to have
their first tastes of victory in SEC
play this year. The Wildcats are
currently on a four game losing
streak. The Gamecocks hope to
continue the chemistry they had
in the beginning of the season be
fore losing seven straight games.
Their last victory at home came
on Dec. 18, when Carolina beat
Louisiana-Lafayette 72-59. The
Wildcats’ last road victory came
Dec. 22 against in-state rival
Western Kentucky, when UK won
76-63.
The Gamecocks are hoping to
bounce back from their previous
home loss to Arkansas last
Sunday at the Colonial Center
and their latest loss on the road
at Florida. Kentucky lost a nail
biter to No. 14 LSU in Lexington,
Ky. on Sunday, 70-69, and
dropped Thursday’s game at
Mississippi State by 80-67. Potts
had 16 points and 8 rebounds in
the losing cause for the Wildcats
on Sunday and 19 points against
the Lady Bulldogs on Thursday
night.
The USC women’s basketball
team is set for tipoff against
Kentucky at 2 p.m. Sunday at the
Colonial Center.
f
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Gamecocks hope to
dominate Tigers,
remain in AP poll
BY JAY POU
THEtiAMKCOCK
The USC men’s basketball
team will look to stay on top of the
SEC’s eastern division Saturday
night when the Gamecocks host
the LSU Tigers.
No. 25 USC (16-2, 3-1 SEC) will
also be looking for its fourth
straight conference win, a feat the
Gamecocks have not accom
plished since midway through the
1997-98 season. USC is continuing
on its best start since the 1969-70
campaign when the Gamecocks
posted a 14-0 conference record on
the way to an ACC title.
The Gamecocks’ No. 25 rank
ing in the Associated Press poll
marks the first time USC has been
ranked in the national top 25
since the final poll of the 1998 sea
son when they finished the year
ranked No. 15. USC head coach
Dave Odom is excited about the
Gamecocks’ return to national
prominence, but also wary of his
team becoming overconfident.
“It’s my job now to keep it up,
to keep them grounded because
it’s not where you start, it’s where
you finish,” Odom said. “When
you look at the polls, it’s great to
be where you are at the present,
but it doesn’t say where you’ll end
up. Our competitors might look
closer now; it puts a bulls-eye on
your chest.”
Despite his cautious com
ments, Odom, who posted his 50th
career victory as USC head coach
last Saturday, is becoming en
gulfed in the growing excitement
around the Gamecock basketball
program.
“I am delighted and happy for
the fans as well. They are starved
for something good right now;
they want this program to be all
that it can be. It’s good for the city
and the whole state,” Odom said.
“The Colonial Center will be the
place to be for those two hours
[Saturday] night in this state. It’s
going to be great and I expect our
crowd to be there with us.”
As excited as USC fans are
about the Gamecocks’ great start,
they will face a tough test from
the LSU Tigers (12-3,2-2), which
several sportswriters picked as
the preseason favorite to win the
SEC West The Tigers have hit a
bit of a skid recently, coming off
consecutive losses to Mississippi
State and Ole Miss. The Rebels
defeated LSU 53-49 Wednesday
night in a defensive struggle in
Oxford.
Leading the way for the Tigers
is forward Jaime Lloreda, a se
nior who averaged over 12 points
and 9 rebounds per game last sea
son. Lloreda had a solid effort
Wednesday against the Rebels,
posting 14 points and grabbing 9
rebounds. LSU’s other main con
tributor is freshman Brandon
Bass, another forward who has
played well in his inaugural sea
son as a Tiger.
PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK
Guard Josh Gonner gets in the face of a Tennessee player in the Gamecock’s 85-64 thrashing of
the Volunteers last Sunday.
LSU is led by head coach John
Brady, who has posted a 3-3
record against the Gamecocks in
his six years as LSU head coach.
Brady will be looking to return
the Tigers to their winning ways
in the SEC, hoping to better last
year’s first-round NCAA tourna
ment exit.
USC’s defense, ranked in the
national top 10 in several cate
gories, will be the key to this
game. The Gamecocks can pick
up their fourth straight win if
they keep LSU from scoring
much, as the Tigers have lost
each time this season that they
failed to score 60 points. Look for
forwards Carlos Powell and
Rolando Howell to match up
with LSU’s duo of Lloreda and
Bass.
Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
Saturday at the Colonial Center.
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Alumnus
pushes
to retire
McKie’s
number
BY JONATHAN HILLYARD
THE (JAMECOCK
A1985 USC graduate has start
ed an online petition to retire for
mer Gamecock basketball star
B. J. McKie’s number.
Charles Beanes, who also re
ceived a law degree in 1988, started
the petition on Monday. McKie
played at USC from 1995-1999 and
is one of Carolina’s most beloved
basketball sons.
“There just isn’t any interest in
doing this anymore and I think
that’s a bit disappointing,” Beans
said. “I think if you are going
honor our basketball team tl
we should honor its all-time lead
ing scorer.”
In the light of the current USC
men’s basketball team, a little
hard court history is being dug up
around the Gamecock nation.
McKie’s career is full of individ
ual accolades. He finished as the
Gamecocks’ all-time leading scor
er with 2,119 points, topping other
USC stars like NBA Hall-of-Famer
Alex English, who finished with
1,972 points, and Carolina Athletics
Hall-of-Famer John Roche, who is
third in scoring at 1,910. McKie
♦ MCKIE, SEE PAGE 9
I Mathis, 2 other Americans sign with European soccer leaguer
■
BY WES WOLFE
THE (JAMEGOCK
Former USC soccer star Clint
Mathis signed with German club
Hannover 96 of the German
Bundesliga on Wednesday, ending
speculation about where he would
end up playing. Mathis had tried
out for several English teams and
Hannover after leaving Major
League Soccer team the New
York/New Jersey MetroStars.
Mathis’ contract runs through
June 2006, with an option for an
other year. Mathis will be replac
ing the team’s star striker, Jan
S'imak of the Czech Republic.
Simak left Hannover several
months ago, claiming that he was
depressed, and has not returned.
Mathis will not be the only
American player on the team,
though. He will join Steven
Cherundolo, a native of Illinois
who attended the University of
Portland. Cherundolo has been
playing for Hannover since
November 2002.
“He’s very excited about play
ing in the Bundesliga; it has al
ways been his first choice,” Craig
Sharon, Mathis’ agent, said in a
telephone interview with the New
York Times, “Hannover has been
interested in the past and it was a
good choice for Clint because
Steve Cherundolo is there and the
coach speaks English.”
Hannover is currently 11th out
of 18 teafns in the Bundesliga and
will return from its six-week win
ter break on Jan. 30 with a match
against Hamburger SV.
“With Clint, we’ve gotten a
good forward,” Hannover assis
tant manager Carsten Linke said
to the Associated,Press. “I think
we’re all satisfied with the way
we’ve reinforced the team.”
One more American was signed
this week, striker Brian McBride.
McBride left the Columbus Crew
of the MLS to sign with Fulham of
the English Premier League.
According to an article in the Los
Angeles Times, McBride was go
ing to sign with the Blackburn
Rovers of the Premier League, but
Fulham offered a larger salary.
“It’s tough to leave but this is
the right opportunity for us,”
McBride said in the St. Petersburg
(Fla.) Times. “Now we’ll take the
challenge head-on.”
The salary, $1.5 million, is more
than three times his pay while
with Columbus. McBride played
for St. Louis University before
making the move to professional
soccer. He was also the first-ever
player drafted by an MLS team
and in his time with the Crew,
McBride had 71 goals in 183
games. He also had some playing
time while on loan to Premier
League team Everton last year,
where he scored 4 goals in eight
matches.
“Brian is a great talent who
[will get] his fair share of goals,”
Fulham coach Chris Coleman
♦ MATHIS, SEE PAGE 9