University of South Carolina Libraries
■ INFERNO Continued from page 13 in a goal near the middle of the first Defenseman Derek Eastman tool advantage of a brief power play, a 3-on 1 rush, and a bad Charlotte line change to send the pass from fellow defensemar Trevor Demmans into the net at minutes, 11 seconds into the game. The Checkers countered a little more than a minute later when a failed clearing attempt by Columbia was interceptec and flipped past a partially screenec Minard by Charlotte captain Mike Harder. The two teams traded a fev penalties and a few chances, and at 12:2} Demmans got his second point of the night when he launched a fairly routine wrist shot from the blue line. Charlotte goalie Alex Wesdund nabbed a piece o it, but the puck trickled into the back o the net and gave Columbia a lead the) would guard for much of the night. The second period, although without a shot scored, was rife witf chances, fast skating, hard hits anc odd-man rushes. The Checkers livec up to their name and perpetuated j physically dominating presence throughout the second. Columbk countered with their fleet-footec skaters and the speedy glove o: Minard, who snagged a puck off the crossbar with 30 seconds left to play The third period proved that the Inferno had lost a step, while Charlotte looked fresh. Just a little less than twe minutes into the third period, left wing Eddie Pershin skated into Columbia’s zone with a defender draped all over him. Pershin deked Minard into an early butterfly save, and the Inferno goalie was the proverbial sitting duck. Pershin skated right around the suddenly immobile All-Star and slid the puck into the net past Minard’s left leg. While Charlotte didn’t cash in on its numerous power play opportunities, the Checkers did wrestle momentum away from the tired Inferno, and coasted into a scoreless overtime and subsequent shoot-out. With the entire crowd on their feet, Charlotte was first to send a skater into the shoot-out. Right wing Mike Wirll skated in on Minard, who again left his feet too soon to go into a backward sprawling, and zipped the puck into the net. Minard’s counterpart, Wesdund, looked sharp, forcing center D’Arcy McConvey to fire too high and turning away the next three shots with a kick save, a blocker deflection and a stick save. Charlotte winger Jason Dawe finished the game and won the shoot-out 2-0, snapping the puck over the left shoulder of Minard. Columbia was awarded one point for the overtime loss and will play host to the Louisiana IceGators this weekend for a pair of games, one on Friday at 7:30 p.m., and another on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm. sc. edu moved down to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, and facing a full count, pinch hitter J.J. McVay struck out. After a double and a walk, Smith, pinch-hitting for Whitney Wierzbicki sent the first pitch she saw well over the center field wall. It was the Gamecocks’ first home run of the season and pushed Carolina’s winning streak against Charlotte to 22 games. Comments on this story ? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu ■ PITCHING Continued from page 13 seeing limited time, the pitcher and outfielder will play for Winthrop University in Rock Hill. USC will compete against 12 of the top 50 teams ranked by Baseball America. Carolina’s SEC opponents I are No. 2 LSU, No. 10 Georgia, No. 15 Florida, No. 16 Ole Miss, No. 17 Vanderbilt, No. 26 Arkansas , No. 34 Tennessee, No. 43 Alabama, and No. 49 Auburn. Also among the top 50 were No. 32 Pepperdine, No. 36 Clemson and No. 45 Minnesota. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu — i USC looks to stop growing pains 1___ _„___ NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK Redshirt freshman Melanie Johnson posts up against an Aubrun defender Sunday. Carolina now travels to Athens to take on Georgia. By JASON SCHNEIDER THE GAMECOCK When a college basketball team has a particularly hard year in terms of graduation and there are no experienced upperclassmen to fill the void, that team might go through what is known in the sports world as a “rebuilding year.” As the Gamecock women’s hoops team heads into a showdown at Georgia on Thursday, it finds itself in the middle of such a season. Following a tough loss to Auburn in which the Gamecocks led for much of the game, the women find themselves with a 6-16 record and remain winless in the SEC after eight tries. Games like the Auburn matchup seem to be a common motif for this year’s team. Spirits, however, remain high, especially for eighth-year coach Susan Walvius. “We’re a really young basketball team. We have all freshmen and sophomores, and the exciting thing is that the future’s really bright for this team because they’ve shown so much promise,” Walvius said. “Young” is certainly an accurate word to describe a team comprised almost solely of freshmen and sophomores. Junior Olga Gritsaeva is the only upperclassman. As the Gamecocks travel to Athens on Thursday, they will definitely be heavy underdogs against a very good, though inconsistent, Georgia team. Georgia is led by freshman standout Tasha Humphrey, who is second in the SEC in scoring, averaging 21.7 points per game. The Bulldogs (18-6, 7-3 SEC) are ranked No. 18 in the country, although they had been ranked in the top 5 early in the season. Walvius said she fully realizes the talent the Gamecocks will face Thursday. “(The Bulldogs) are very, very good,” she said, “They are very athletic and very talented, and they’re going to be tough at their place.” But Walvius said she does not plan to come out with a particular scheme for A the matchup. She said the Gamecocks ^ will try their best to contain Humphrey, but their main objective will be the same as it has been every game this year: forcing turnovers with their array of defensive schemes. Walvius said she feels her team is at its best in attack mode. The Gamecocks like to run and score in transition. For a team that forces as many turnovers as it does against good teams — 21 turnovers forced against both Tennessee and Auburn — a good transition game is certainly a valuable asset. USC could be drooling Thursday, as Georgia is a team that turns the ball over quite a bit, averaging 15.7 turnovers per game. So, seeking their first SEC victory this season, the Gamecocks head into A Athens thinking about turnovers and ™ points on the break. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu ' ■ BROOM Continued from page 13 As much as McNabb did not impress me, 1 was very impressed with Terrell Owens. The man caught nine passes for 122 yards, playing on an ankle being held together by screws. You might not like the way he talks, but that is about a 9.3 on the Brett Favre Testosterone-Driven Hardcore-O-Meter. Everybody was so busy talking about how New England was going to be a dynasty and how Belichick is a genius and Tom Brady is the second coming of Joe Montana that this performance went almost unnoticed. 1 am not normally one to play the race card, but lets face it: If Tom Brady broke his ankle, came back with screws in it and had a game like this, the media would be lining up at the 50-yard line to kiss his butt. Joe Buck would have had an aneurysm just thinking about it. In a game where I hated both teams, I eventually found myself pulling openly for the Eagles. Although Donovan McNabb pulled the proverbial “crapping of the bed” A when it counted the most, every man ^ on that team — therefore excluding Todd Pinkston — earned my respect. I’m not sure if I can take another year of hearing bandwagon New England “fans” talking about how this is one of the greatest teams ever, but it looks like I’ll have to find out the hard way. I Have an idea for a new business? The Student Business Incubator Center is looking for students who have ideas for starting their own businesses. EIGHT new companies will be added to the Center this fall. Benefits include... * Capital up to $1,000 *Rent free office space I telephone and computer connections *Computer workstations *Plus more!!! For more information contact: Office of Student Government and Organizations Russell House Rm 227, 803.777.2654, www.sg.sc.edu/sbic.htm ' ‘ ■ SOFT Continued from page 13 but watched as it was caught for the second out. Lauren Schmitz lined out to short for the third out. Charlotte tried to get a run across on its last turn at bat in the top of the seventh inning. Kaycie Jones singled to center field and was replaced by pinch runner Susan Matthews. Matthews was then thrown out in a fielder s choice. Pinch runner Emily Forbes