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Kinsey guided by confidence, determination By BRIAN DAVIS THE GAMECOCK Incredible skill and determination in life are not two characteristics that always coincide. In those situations where they do, the potential for success is always present. For USC junior shooting guard Tarence Kinsey, a Tampa, Florida native, there is a bright light at the end of every tunnel. This year Kinsey has taken his opportunity as a starter to become one of USC’s top players, averaging nearly two more points and rebounds per game with nearly 10 points and four rebounds per contest. After being troubled by several injuries in his first two seasons at USC, Kinsey is on a streak, shooting better than 40 percent from the field and close to that in his three point percentage. While these improvements may be perceived to be due to his lack of injury, that is not the case. “Well, it always feels good to be injury free,’’Kinsey said. “I came into this season with a bum ankle and the ankle’s still bum. It still bothers me, it hurts all the time, but, it feels good to help contribute.” Kinsey’s ability to learn from such predicaments is admirable, as his determination is evident off the court. “Truthfully, the first thing, we’re not in here, we’re in study hall,” Kinsey said. “You might catch me in the Russell House right before 7:30 or something, eating there. I don’t really do too much.” This fevel-headedness has seemingly been around for some time, as Kinsey decided on USC as a high school player based on several reasons, some jokingly and some seriously. “Well I couldn’t go too far up north, it was too cold. I can’t take cold weather,’’Kinsey said. “The SEC has always been one of the toughest conferences and I wanted to get out of Florida. I didn’t want to be too close to my family so if I get in trouble they could come up here and whoop me, so I just wanted to come up here and get away and start fresh.” Kinsey said that his other collegiate opportunities came from Arkansas, UMASS, Florida and recent national powers Georgia Tech and Boston College. Thus far, Kinsey does not seem nostalgic about his decision, as he reflected on his more enjoyable moments at USC. “I think my most exciting moment was last year when we got invited to the NCAA,” Kinsey recalled. “The whole SEC Tournament and even the first game of the NCAA Tournament, all of them were exciting.” Kinsey clearly savored these opportunities when he confronted them. In the SEC Tournament, Kinsey averaged over 11.5 points per game and five rebounds per contest. He followed this up by a solid performance of nine points in 22 minutes in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Memphis. As the season’s ending or new beginning approaches, depending on a potential bid to the NCAA Tournament, the conclusion of the careers of standout senior forward Carlos Powell and crowd-pleaser Josh Gonner will leave Kinsey as one of few seniors to lead the younger, extremely talented players. “It’s going to be huge,” Kinsey said of the responsibility. “From my class that Ame in 2002, Pm the only one left. I’m going to have the most experience out of all the seniors coming back. So it’s going to be huge and I think I got a relationship with everybody else that they’ll listen to what I have to say.” As Kinsey’s third season reaches its pinnacle, he cannot be certain of his post-collegiate plans as his senior season may determine openings in a professional career in this country, or many others that are available. On this speck of uncertainty, Kinsey commented, “I’m not sure what I’m going to do, I’m probably going to work with my grandfather, he has a couple of. businesses that he owns. If I get a degree, which I am [in criminal justice], I know I can probably do something with that. If pro ball doesn’t work, I’m not going to let it bring me down, I might even go overseas or something like that.” While he and the rest of USC onlookers may wonder where his future will lead him, both can be certain nothing will prevent him from the path he chooses. Comments on this story? E-mail ga7necocksports@g1vm.sc. edu CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK Junior forward Tarence Kinsey prepares to make a move. Kinsey had a double-double last Wednesday against Arkansas. KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK Junior pitcher Michelle Henke pitches in last weekend’s Gamecock Invitational. The team will travel to Arizona to face Cal-State Fullerton and Arizona. USC softball goes west for Kajikawa tourney By MICHAEL FINNEGAN THE GAMECOCK After starting off hot with five wins in six home games, the USC softball team will be thrown into the fire this weekend at Arizona State’s Kajikawa Tournament. Carolina will first face No. 25 Cal State Fullerton. CS-Fullerton is 2-2 coming off splits against No. 7 UGA and No. 3 UCLA in the UCLA Tournament. The Titans are looking to start strong this year after last season’s disappointing 18 34 record. Sophomore Brooke Weekley leads the Titans’ young pitching staff, as she started off her varsity career 13-18 with a 2.94 ERA. The Titans’ hottest hitter of the new year is junior Marissa Marzan, averaging .545. The Titans will look to their four freshmen to step up their game this weekend. Their fearsome foursome has not been so fearsome to start the season, going 8-for-40 with a batting average of .200. USC will next face oft against Utah State (2-3). The Aggies have struggled to start the season, finishing the Alexis Resort Cj^ssic 2-3. One key to an A#e victory is better defense,as the .^%gies have already committed eight errors in five games. The Aggies look to senior Candice Hatch to step up, who has yet to register a hit this season, goingO-for-14. Sophomore Jessica Garnet has been the Aggies’ best hitter this season, going 8-for-17. The Gamecocks open up Saturday against the University of Massachusetts. This is UMass’s first weekend of play, and the Minutemen will look to their veterans to lead them to victory. UMass has the 2004 A-10 Player of the Year in senior Hilary Puglia. She finished 2004 with a batting average of .321 with nine doubles, three triples, five home runs and 15 stolen bases. UMass lost its best pitcher, Kelli Arnold, to graduation, but will look to junior Jenna Busa to step up her game. She finished last year with a record of 13-8 and a 2.34 ERA. UMass also looks to freshman Maggie Feix to fill in for Arnold. She finished her high school career 54-17 with a 0.51 ERA and 621 strikeouts. The Gamecocks’ toughest game should be against the No. 1 team in the nation, the Arizona Wildcats (5-0). Arizona played host to and won the Pepsi Arizona Softball Classic last week. Arizona was led by sophomore USA Softball National Player of the Week Kristie Fox, who had a stellar performance. She has an average of .692 with two home runs. Arizona is also led by 2004 All-Americans Caitlin Lowe and Alicia Hollowell. At the mound, Arizona looks to freshman Taryne Mowatt to continue her stellar start to her collegiate career. She won two games and had a .70 ERA. The Gamecocks wrap up their trip to Tempe with the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers are led by infielder Kristin Zacher. Last year, she set the UW record for hits (63) and total bases (91). On the mound, a sophomore and a senior lead the Badgers. Sophomore Eden Brock had a 1.71 ERA to lead the Badgers in ERA as a freshman. Senior Katie Layne looks to continue her success from her junior campaign. She led the team in wins (13) and strikeouts (90). The Gamecocks look to continue their winning ways this weekend. They are led by junior Michelle Henke, who is unbeaten and has not allowed a run this season. ------;-r Comments on tfifs story? E-mail gamecocksports@gurm.sc. edu GAMECOCK CHALLENGE Fthe CHALLENGE: Every week, Jonathan Stephen Alex Miquel Rick Bennie The Gamecock’s readers and Hillyard Fastenau Riley Jacobs Henry Riley staff test their sports knowledge sPorts Asst. Sports Staff Staff Special Reader of with samp nredirtinns editor editor Writer Writer guest the week with game predictions. (24.16) (26-14) (24-16) (25-15) (24-16) (25-15) LSU at Arkansas_Arkansas LSU_LSU_Arkansas LSU_LSU Florida at TennesseeFlorida FloridaFlorida Florida_FloridaFlorida Ole Miss at 17 Alabama_Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Vanderbilt at Miss. State MSU MSU MSU MSU_MSU_MSU_ 20 Wisconsin at 1 IllinoisIllinois Wisconsin Illinois Illinois IllinoisIllinois 8 Syracuse at 21 Villanova Syracuse Villanova Syracuse Syracuse Syracuse Syracuse 7 Duke at Maryland Duke. Maryland DukeDukeDuke Duke 15 Mich. State at Michigan StateStateState Michigan Michigan Michigan Georgia at 5 KentuckyKentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Auburn at USC USC TjSC USC USC USC USC 62-55 70-69 72-61 66-58 75-61 63-54 WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-MAIL SELECTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK’S GAMES TO GAMECOCKSPORTS@GWM.SC.EDU. LAST WEEK’S RESULTS: Stephen Fastenau has taken the lead in what is still a close contest. Hillyard also went 7-3. Rick Henry joins us this week. ■ HITTERS Continued from page 9 with double-digit home-run totals at 14. The other captain of the 2005 squad is Winn, who was also drafted by the Red Sox in the 31st round but chose to return to Columbia for his final season. The senior out of Florida came up just short of the team’s triple crown last season, batting .305 with 19'home runs and 69 RBIs. Winn did not miss a beat last fall, starting all 70 games in right field. It’s easy to see why he won the Sarge Frye Award for class, integrity and being a great teammate. USC’s other outfielder is in-state native Gregg. After being hit in the face on a pitch last fall, Gregg came in and out of the USC lineup almost all season. Greg managed to go 6-of-17 in the College World Series and had two RBIs. Gregg finished the season batting .325 with 26 RBIs. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@giom.sc.edu ■ RETURN Continued from page 9 A win would mark the third straight for Carolina and could not come at a better time. A Tuesday home matchup with SEC East-leading Kentucky looms imposingly after this game, followed by a road contest with SEC West-leading Alabama. It will be important for the Gamecocks to not look ahead to the matchup with the Tigers, as USC is fighting for an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament and needs any win it can ggt. The Tigers are looking to merely finish the season above .500 under first-year coach Jeff Lebo, a former USC assistant. Auburn stands at 12-12 on the season and 2-7 in SEC play. Carolina was able to win last year’s contest, 53-51, but Auburn has won seven of the last 10 contests against the Gamecocks. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu BASKETBALL ■ Continued from page 10 effect of cheating.” “Selling the foul” is not an uncommon tool to the game. High-, school coaches teach and preach', how to inform the officials that a call' must be made by slightly exaggerating the contact. Without the embellishment, it would be easy for an official to call a blocking foul or make no call at all. The Auburn Tigers could care less about the dispute though, unless it keeps Powell’s mind away from preparing. Auburn could care less about USC’s ESPN game two days after the fact. All the Tigers will be focused on is Saturday night’s game, at the Colonial Center and a possible third conference victory. For Odom’s sake, that should be all that the Gamecocks are focused on, too. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu TH#%AMECOCK No one covers USC better. Seriously. # • * * :