Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r MEN’S BASKETBALL CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE: Every week, Wes Jonathan Adam Shawn Jennifer Andy The Gamecock's readers and Wolfe Hlllyard Beam Rourk Freeman Ferris staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editor Design Copy Reader of with game predictions editor editor in chief Director editor the week __(119) (10-10) (13-7) (12-8) (10-10) (10-10) IUPUI at Centenary IUPUI Centenary IUPUI IUPUI IUPUI IUPUI 13 Texas Tech at 18 Okla. St. Okla. St._ 0kla: St. Texas Tech Texas Tech Texas Tech Texas Tech I Duke at 14 Ga. Tech_Duke_Ga. Tech_Ga. Tech_Duke Duke Duke 12 UNC at Clemson UNC UNC UNC UNC _UNC UNC 5 Kentucky at VanderbiltKentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Vanderbilt 22 Florida at Tenn.Florida FloridaFlorida Florida Tenn.Tenn. II Miss. St. at Auburn_Miss. St. Auburn _ Miss. St. Miss. St. Auburn Miss. St. Arkansas at Georgia Arkansas Arkansas Georgia Georgia_Arkansas Georgia LSU at Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama LSU LSU Alabama 24 USC at Ole Miss USC USC USC USC USC USC 11 65-55 55-45 69-62 61-54 68-62 68-43 LAST WEEK'S RESULTS: Rourk closed the gap on Beam with a 7-3 finish. WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mail selections for next week’s games to gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu. Briefly Softball team gains pre-season notice The USC softball team was recognized today as they were ranked 22nd in the USA Today/National Fast-pitch Coaches Association (NFCA) preseason Top 25 poll. Despite not earning a spot in the USA Softball/EfJPN.com poll, this marked the 14th consecutive ^JSA Today/NFCA poll that the ^lamecocks have appeared in. This was the 113th poll re leased and USC has been ranked in 97 of them. The poll is voted on by 27 NCAA coach es from different conferences. Three other SEC teams ap peared in the poll including No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Georgia and No. 14 LSU. Overall, USC will play against seven teams that are ranked in the presea son, the first being Oklahoma on Feb. 13 at the Sunshine Tournament in Tallahassee, Florida. Carolina softball returns five starters from last season and all three pitchers. Four new faces will also appear for the, Gamecocks this season. Women’s tennis team takes season opener The USC women’s tennis team saw its first action of the season Wednesday as it defeat ed Davidson 7-0. The Gamecocks got off to a slow start in the USC Indoor Tennis Facility before finishing off the Wildcats. The slow start was apparent for the numbers one and two doubles, but they led through out at the number three dou bles competition. Finally, the number one doubles duo of Christyn Lucas and Laura Ganzer won their match 8-3; the same score Miranda Gutierrez and Fallon Koon of doubles team number three would win. The number two doubles com bo of Danielle Wiggins and Magda Wojdylo staged a nice comeback, coming from a 5-2 deficit to win 6-5. USC did not have any trouble in singles competition, winning all six matches. Winners in cluded Gutierrez, Wiggins, Ganzer, Lucas, Wojdylo and Justine Walsh. Panthers inspired by coach’s, teammate’s fights with cancer BOB BAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS HOUSTON - Just before the sea son began, in a span of two weeks, the Carolina Panthers got the news: Linebacker Mark Fields and linebacker’s coach Sam Mills had cancer. Suddenly, football was only a game—a sobering lesson for a team about to play in its first Super Bowl. “Just the way they coped and the way they kept pounding along,’’ coach John Fox said. “Some of those same lessons you teach in this game are at the high est level in their fight.” At a news conference ^J'hursday, Fields and Mills were ■ispirational portraits of courage. “You have your good days and your bad days,” Mills said. “I am just glad I am having days, you know?” Fields, the Panthers’ leading tackier in 2002, has completed treatment for Hodgkin’s disease and is expected to play next sea son. Mills, who played 12 seasons in the NFL and went to the Pro Bowl five times, works as much as he can but remains in a fight for his life against intestinal cancer. Mills had a chemotherapy treat ment in Charlotte on Wednesday, then flew to Houston to join the team. He will be on the sideline •inday when the Panthers face e New England Patriots. “The club basically gave me the option as to how much I wanted to be around,” Mills said. “Hey, I am a football coach. That is what I am. As long as I have the power in me to go ahead and continue to coach, I’d like to continue to coach.” Beneath their uniforms, the Panthers wear T-shirts bearing Fields’ No. 58 and Mills’ No. 51 - the number he used to wear. “Getting them a ring would be something special, “defensive end Julius Peppers said. “They’re al ways with us. They’re a part of this team. We want very badly to win this championship for those guys.” Fields’ disease was discovered when he went to a doctor because •cut on his finger wouldn’t heal. (Mills wondered why he lacked energy to finish his usual work outs. After several tests, cancer was discovered in his small intes tine. The players were told just be fore their final preseason game on Aug. 30. Fields, uncomfortable at work outs because he wanted so badly to play, made only occasional vis its during the season. “It is extremely difficult be cause every player wants to play on Sunday,” he said. “This is what we do, this is what we want to do, and this is where we want to be.” Fields, 31, and Mills, 44, kept in contact by phone. “I was coaching Mark, and then a month later he was basically coaching me,” Mills said, "because he was further along in the treat ment stage of it. It can be tough on you. When they are pumping this stuff into your body, it can be very tough on you.” Both have used the team’s suc cess to help keep a positive attitude. “The more we win, the better we are,” said Fields, who confess es he is wiser for his ordeal. “It is a very humbling experi ence but it makes you appreciate things and look at things in a to tally different light,” he said. “You can’t imagine how I feel about next year, and that I even have the opportunity to come back and play. Training camp can’t be long enough for me. Guys might get mad at me, be cause we can stay in training camp all year long, that’s how I feel about it.” Mills’ prognosis is uncertain. “There is improvement going on right now, and we just hope to continue to improve,” he said. “As far as long term, we really don’t know.” ■t . PHOTO COURTESY KRTCAMPUS S.C. native Stephen Davis will play in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Let the whole Carolina community know how you feel about your special someone this Valentine's Day in our section of Zhc~:<3amecock classifieds A prize will be given for the best Valentine message. The winner will be announced in the Feb. 16 issue of the Gamecock. Date of publication: 2113104 Deadline: 2112104 @ noon • Bring your ad to: Student Media Office, Russell House 343 or email ad to sholmes® gwm.sc.edu Women CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 ing 20 or more points in each of LSU’s last four games. Her per formance against Georgia helped earn her Player of the Week hon ors from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, a distinc tion she has held three times this season. Augustus is consistent not only from the floor, but also from the free throw line, where she has made 29 straight since miss ing her first two in a victory over Auburn Jan. 9. Hodges moved into third place on LSU’s career list Saturday in three-pointers made. The Tigers rely on senior Temeka Johnson to distribute the ball among their scorers. Johnson dished out 9 assists against Georgia, moving her into third place in assists by a senior at LSU. She has 147 this season. The Gamecocks should match' up evenly with the Tigers from a height standpoint, as neither team boasts a great_amount of size. USC will have to box out Augustus and junior forward Tillie Willis, who are each grab bing over six rebounds per game. LSU will be forced to reckon with a trio of Gamecock scorers, with senior guards Cristina Ciocan and Kelly Morrone and freshman forward Iva Sliskovic each averaging over 10 points per game. Look also for each member of this trio to excel in other cate gories besides scoring, as Ciocan leads the team in assists, Morrone in three-pointers made ancTSliskovic in rebounding. This game will likely be decid ed just as much by field goal per centage as the final scoreboard. Look for the team that loosens up the zone defense by hitting mid range jumpers to pull out the vic tory. - Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the P£te Maravich Assembly Center. —Tf-■ Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Safin pulls surprising victory against Agassi in Aussie Open BY JOHN PYE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Andre Agassi put his fingers to his lips and bowed after going five sets with Marat Safin. He blew kisses to all corners of the court in what has become a post match ritual. “You never know when it’s your last,” Agassi said. “So you want to say bye properly.” It was certainly goodbye for the 33-year-old Agassi at this Australian Open. The defending champion rallied after dropping the -first two sets but lost Thursday’s semifinal to an oppo nent who has fortified his game and is playing as if he were No. 1 again. Safin, who upset top-ranked Andy Roddick in the quarterfi nals, won 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6), 5-7,1-6,6 3 in a calm, consistent and pow erful display. The unseeded Russian ended Agassi’s 26-match winning streak at the Australian Open —an Open era record—and denied the American a shot at a ninth Grand Slam tournament title. “It couldn’t go any better,” said Safin, the 2000 U.S. Open champion. “I think I played one of my best matches in my whole life.” Safin next meets the winner of Friday’s semifinal between Wimbledon champion Roger Federer and French Open champ Juan Carlos Ferrero, in a show down for the No. 1 ranking. Agassi won Australian titles in 2000,2001 and 2003 and hadn’t lost a match at Melbourne Park since the fourth round in 1999. ’’You have to play really great against Andre to beat him,” Safin said. Safin entered the tournament ranked No. 86 after struggling all of 2003 with a wrist injury sustained in the first round of last season’s Australian Open. Agassi, seeded fourth, was tested like never before in Melbourne. Columbia's Adult Soccer League s now registering teams or individuals for the Spring '04 season. Registration deadline is Febmary 3rd. Call 781-6468 or email columbiasoccer@aol.com. PHOTO COURTESY KRTCAMPUS Agassi plays in the U.S.Open before losing in Australia. “I could possibly have won in straight sets—it’s a four-point swing there,” he said. “It’s cer tainly the toughest day I’ve had.” Before facing Agassi, Safin beat four other Americans— Brian Vahaly, Todd Martin, James Blake, and Roddick, the U.S. Open champion. Safin reached the Australian final in 2002 when Agassi was out with an injured wrist. He hasn’t been back to the final at a major since and missed the last three in 2003 after withdrawing in the third round in Australia. Against Agassi, he resembled the player who upset Pete Sampras to wih the 2000 U.S. Open. “I managed to stay with him on the baseline. I managed to serve 33 aces—for me it’s a big thing,” said Safin, who did not have a double-fault. “It gives you much more confidence.” Agassi blew set points in the. first and second sets. After he made it 2-2, the momentum ap peared to be with him. But Agassi, a counter-puncher with one of the gamfe’s best serve re turns, was undone by Safin’s ac curacy. “Marat played at an incredi bly high level, and he came up with a lot of-great shots when he needed to,” Agassi said. “I had chances in the first two sets, sort of slipped away. You know, that’s a big hole, two sets to love down.” Agassi seemed in control in the fifth set until the fourth game. Then he missed two crosscourt shots to lose his serve from 30-all: Agassi suspects he’ll be back at the Australian Open for an other try. Student Media is now hiring an account representative to sell advertising in the 5 Points area We are looking for a dedicated energetic, enthusiastic student to work this area. All majors are encouraged to apply. Great experience! 9% commission on all ads sold Call 777-5064 if interested. These shoes were found 46 yards from the crasli caused by a drunk driver. Carissa Deason was thrown 30 yards and not even her hither, a doctor, could save her. f Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk.