The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 09, 2004, Page 8, Image 8
Game.Schedule
MEN’S GOLF at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate
in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Contactus WOMEN’S golf at the Northrup Grumman
0. ., ' ' „„ . „ Regional Challenge in Los Angeles, Calif. ■
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Mississippi State,
E-mail us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu 7:30 p m Wednesday
PHOTO BY MATT GOINS/THE KERNEL
Forward Kerbrell Brown goes up against Kentucky forward Erik Daniels while guards Mike Boynton and Tre Kelley play defense in
USC’s narrow defeat by the Wildcats. Daniels played well against Carolina’s tough defense, shooting 7-of-li for 17 points.
USC succumbs
to Kentucky in
final seconds
BY WES WOLFE
THE GAMECOCK
The No. 25 USC men’s basket
ball team (19-4,6-3 SEC) came with
in one point of an upset victory at
No. 9 Kentucky (16-3, 6-2) on
Saturday, 65-64.
Both teams have had experi
ence with close games during con
ference play this year, but the
Wildcats managed to sink the
right shots at the right time to win
and take sole possession of the
SEC East lead.
“Certainly it’s a disappointing
loss for us,” USC head coach Dave
Odom said. “I felt like our team
played hard enough to win the bas
ketball game. This is not just any
basketball game against just any
basketball team played in just any
basketball arena.”
The two teams traded the lead
in the final two minutes, until the
game came down to a last-second
shot attempt by the Gamecocks.
With about one minute left, UK
guard Antwain Barbour hit his
only 3-pointer of the game to give
the Wildcats a 2-point lead. A foul
on forward Carlos Powell gave
USC a chance to tie-up the game,
but Powell only made one of the
free throws. Kentucky turned the
ball over on its next possession,
leaving the Gamecocks with 22 sec
onds to make a game-winning shot.
However, the UK defense held
tough, forcing USC to take a time
out with only four seconds left. A
shot by USC forward Kerbrell
Brown after the time out hit the
side of the backboard, and a re
bound by UK guard Cliff Hawkins
sealed Carolina’s fate.
“It came down to one posses
sion, and we didn’t execute very
well, and I take full responsibility
for that,” Odom said. “I thought
our team deserved a chance to win
the basketball game and we got it.
That’s what any coach wants—a
chance to come in and win the
game in the end.”
Brown spoke following the
game on the difficult nature of get
ting a good shot off in the final sec
onds of the game.
“Coach [Old] told me to hit
Carlos at the post if he was open
but to shoot if he wasn’t,” Brown
♦ MEN, SEE PAGE 9
PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
Pitcher Melanie Henkes on the mound last Reason for Carolina.
Softball undefeated
after first road trip
BY WES WOLFE
THE GAMECOCK
The USC softball team (4-0)
started out its season in the Tar
Heel State last weekend, playing
a doubleheader at Charlotte (0-2)
on Saturday and a doubleheader
at North Carolina (0-2) on
Sunday.
USC 8 - Charlotte 0
In their first game of the sea
son, the Gamecocks dominated
the Charlotte 49ers by a score of
8-0 in five innings.
Pitcher Aleca Johnson showed
no rust from the off-season, as
she threw a no-hitter against the
Niners to notch her first solo no
hitter of her career in only her
ninth career start.
Johnson had one shared no-hit
ter, with pitcher Stacey Johnson,
last season. Aleca Johnson would
have pitched a perfect game with
no hits, no runs and no errors, but
Carolina was charged with an er
ror with only one out left in the
fifth inning.
Catcher Ashley Smith was the
offensive player of the game,
knocking out two home runs in
three at-bats and driving in five
of Carolina’s eight runs.
USC 13 - Charlotte 0
Carolina had another prodi
gious offensive game in the second
half of the doubleheader against
Charlotte, again forcing the five
inning mercy rule.
The Gamecocks set the school
record for home runs, hitting five
out of the park and breaking the
old record from 1994. Smith added
another home run to her two from
the previous game, while third
baseman Samantha Jennings and
shortstop Amber Curtis both con
tributed two home runs each.
Four was Curtis’s lucky num
ber, since she had four hits in four
at-bats, notching four runs and
four runs-batted-in.
Pitcher Stacey Johnson took
the win, allowing four hits in five
innings.
use 3 - UNC 2
All of USC’s runs in the first half
♦ SOFTBALL, SEE PAGE 9
Tennessee overruns women’s basketball
0 use 58
T Tennessee 72 I
BY ELIZABETH A. DAVIS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KNOXVILLE, TENN. - Shyra Ely
had 12 points and 12 rebounds to
help top-ranked Tennessee beat
South Carolina 72-58 on Sunday.
Shanna Zolman scored all 12 of
her points in the first half while
Tasha Butts and Tye’sha Fluker
each added 10 for the Lady Vols,
who bounced back from an 81-67
home loss to fourth-ranked
Connecticut on Thursday.
Tennessee (19-2, 8-0
Southeastern Conference) will
most likely lose its No. 1 ranking
in the new polls, but it is still atop
the SEC.
'PV, n 1 a o m i a * o 1 o pi nl onn
Gamecocks (9-12, 0-8) lost to the
Lady Vols for the 29th straight
time, and Tennessee has won 52
SEC home games in a row.
The Lady Vols grabbed the lead
in the first two minutes of the
game and used a 16-0 run to fight
off a second-half rally.
The Gamecocks were down 10 a
minute into the second half when
they went on a 12-2 run to tie it at
42 with 16:50 remaining.
Tennessee kept South
Carolina scoreless for five min
utes while scoring 16 straight
points to go ahead 58-42. LaToya
Davis had back-to-back steals
during the run, scoring a layup
SEC Standings
All statistics are current as of
February 8,2004.
TEAM CONF. OVERALL
Tennessee8-020-2
LSU 6-2 18-4
Florida 6-2 16-5
Auburn_ 6-3^ 18-5
Ole Miss 6-3 15-8
Georgia _ 5-4 16-6
Vanderbilt 4-5_ 16-6
Mississippi State 3-5 9-12
Arkansas3-514-7
Alabama _ 3-6 11-11
Kentucky1-8 9-13
USC 0-8 9-12
after one and dishing off to
Brittany Jackson for another bas
ket.
The Gamecocks wouldn’t go
away and cut it to nine with 4:27
remaining. Ely converted a three
point play to put Tennessee up 63
51, and the Lady Vols finished
strnnp
Lauren Simms and Cristina
Ciocan scored 13 points apiece
and Iva Sliskovic added 10 points
for South Carolina, which was a
dismal 3-of-15 from the foul line.
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt
complained that her players were
outworked and outhustled by
Connecticut.
The Lady Vols didn’t let that
happen Sunday, outrebounding
South Carolina 58-31, which
made up for their 28-of-74 shoot
ing from the field and 18
turnovers.
——Si «-. ^
PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK
Guard Kelly Morrone drives past an opposing player In a
game this season. USC has yet to win an SEC game.
Former SEC players excel in Arena League
BY JONATHAN HILLYARD
THE GAMECOCK
We now enter the month of
February, the darkest of months
for many football enthusiasts
across America. Following the
Super Bowl, people begin count
ing the days until kickoff in
August.
This is not the case for many
SEC football alumni, as their sea
son is just beginning in the Arena
Football League.
Players such as USC alumnus
Stacy Evans, Auburn’s Markeith
Cooper and Tennessee graduate
Andy McCullough are now
thriving with the Arena Football
League’s Georgia Force out of
Atlanta, Ga.
The league is a hotbed of play
ers who don’t fit the prototypical
NFL mold but still have the tal
ent and desire to play profes
sional football. While bearing the
same essential premise, arena
football is much different than
the outdoor game in terms of
physical and mental factors.
Evans, a former two-time All
SEC defensive end, has played in
the Arena League for five years.
He was the Gamecocks’ starting
defensive end his junior and se
nior seasons at USC in 1997 and
1998 and is a native of Laurens.
Evans was signed as a free agent
in the NFL as a rookie but was re
leased before the season started.
Since then Evans has found his
niche in the Arena League.
In 2002, Evans was one of the
most dominant players in the
league, and was named to the
AFL’s All-Ironman team, a squad
made up of players who play both
sides of the ball.
cooper, in nis tnira atl sea
son, knew he would most likely
never play in the NFL due to his
5-foot-7-inch, 175-pound frame.
After playing running back and
wide receiver for Auburn, Cooper
tried to play in the Canadian
Football League, but was re
leased. He then moved to Atlanta
with his wife and unloaded pack
ages for UPS and FedEx.
He tried out for the Force in
2002 and made the team. He is
now the offensive specialist for
the Force and finished last season
with 28 receptions for 358 yards
and five touchdowns.
McCullough, a former
Tennessee Volunteer, is also be
ginning his third season in the
AFL. In his first two seasons in
the 'AFL with the Dallas
Desperados, McCullough was the
team’s career leader in scoring,
touchdown receptions and re
ceiving yards.
Before being in the Arena
League, McCullough had been on
the training camp teams of NFL
teams like the Green Bay
Packers in 2002, the Arizona
Cardinals in 2000 and the Kansas
City Chiefs in 1999.
A ITT nlniTC nr, o
Astroturf field, on which the
sidelines are replaced with
slightly padded, but very hard
wooden walls. Punting is not al
lowed under any circumstances,
so a team must go for it or kick
a field goal into uprights only
eight feet in width.
The scoring is much higher
than the outdoor game, making
the league very attractive for of
fensive minds everywhere. The
AFL is also different in that
there are only eight players on
the field for each team at a time,
and most of the players, with the
exception of kickers, quarter
back, one offensive specialist
and two defensive specialists,
play both sides of the ball.
The Georgia Force is now in its
third year of operation in Atlanta
but is adopting a new attitude this
year. Vince Dooley, former na
tional championship coach and
athletic director for the
TTniuOfoUtr IITOP
named the team’s advisory board
chairman prior to the season and
has flooded the board with big
time SEC names such as Heisman
Trophy-winning running back
Herschel Walker and former All
American and Chicago Bears
kicker Kevin Butler.
With 18 team across the coun
try and a contract to televise
games with NBC, the AFL is be
coming nationally accessible.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm. sc. edu