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GAME SCHEDULE 0 Q BASEBALL vs. Radford, 3 p.m. Fage 8 v ‘ MEN’S BASKETBALL at Alabama, 3 p.m. Saturday Friday, February 18, 2005 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Alabama, 2 p.m. Sunday NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK Sophomore Tre’ Kelley dribbles the ball upcourt in the Gamecocks’ 73-61 upset victory over the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday. Carolina will travel next to Alabama. USC looks to keep upset momentum By TYLER GREGG THE GAMECOCK Coming off what most consider to be the biggest win in USC coach Dave Odom’s career at Carolina, the men’s basketball team will face an arguably • equally tough task when the Gamecocks travel to Tuscaloosa on Saturday to take on the No. 16 Alabama Crimson Tide. Many believe the win against Kentucky last Tuesday helped USC’s chances tremendously of getting an NCAA Tournament bid, but the team is still very much on the bubble. With games against Alabama, Florida and Vandy, USC’s year is far from over. As for the Tide, their NCAA Tournament bid looks extremely good. They are not a team on the bubble like Carolina. The Tide played host to the Arkansas Razorbacks on Wednesday and beat them 72-63 to win their 20th game on the year. After blowing a 12-point lead over the Razorbacks, the Tide went into halftime down, 34-33. However, in the second stanza, senior Chuck Davis, who was out the past week with the flu came back to score 16 of his 21 points after halftime. After the game, Bama coach Mark Gottfried commented on Davis’s impact on the team. “Chuck has been a key to pretty much every phase of our game. Not having him would have changed things for us,” Gottfried said. Davis leads the SEC in field-goal percentage, shooting .576 a game. The same Alabama defense that allowed Arkansas to shoot 6-of-10 behind the arc in the first half did not allow a single 3-pointer in the second half. The Tide’s win put them at 9-2 in SEC play. They are 20-4 overall and are comfortably perched on top of the SEC Western division. Alabama is also the first SEC team to reach to 20 wins this season. t Alabama is led by its star players — junior Kennedy Winston, senior Earnest Shelton and Davis. The Tide’s most efficient 3-point shooter is without a doubt Winston. Winston’s 3-point percentage is 46.7 percent on the year. Shelton fires up the most threes, however, as he is 69-of-l 76 from behind the arc this season. These three players together average 48.8 points per game. Alabama is third in the SEC in 3-point shooting percentile, but Carolina is ranked third in the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage defense. The key to a Carolina victory Saturday is rebounding. Alabama is averaging a 6.3 rebounding margin over its opponents this year, compared to Carolina’s 0.1. If Carolina is able to pull off a win Saturday, the Gamecocks will be able to begin making their case for a tournament bid. The last meeting between the Gamecocks and the Crimson Tide was Feb. 4, 2004, when Alabama came to the Colonial Center. Former Gamecock Kerbrell Brown hit a 3 pointer in the closing seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime, where USC prevailed, 90-82. Winston and Shelton had 20 and 23 points, respectively, in the meeting with nine 3-point field goals between them. For the Gamecocks, senior Josh Conner led the team in scoring with 22 points. Just for the record, Odom is 13-28 overall away from home, 20-22 overall on Saturdays, 13-14 overall in February and 10-21 overall in day games. Looking at those stats, Carolina will have to bring it’s A-game. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu Gamecocks to play host to Alabama By MIQUEL JACOBS STAFF WRITER Only three games remain for the USC women’s basketball team (6-19, 0 11 SEC) for the season, including Sunday’s matchup against Alabama. That means there are only three chances to prevent going winless in the SEC for only the second time in school history. Winless in the conference, winless on the road and without starting point guard sophomore Lea Fabbri, the Gamecocks struggled in their past four games, losing contests that were played closely in the opening half. Fabbri returned to the lineup for Thursday’s game after flying back from Croatia on Monday night. Walvius noted that despite not playing since the Kentucky game on January 30, Fabbri looked good in practice on Tuesday, which rolled over to a decent return last night. Alabama is 1-7 in true road games this season. The Gamecocks are running out of opportunities to avoid a winless conference season. Carolina has lost 17 consecutive SEC games with the last victory coming over Alabama in February 2004. However, the team is aware of the limitless possibilities for a young team going through these heartbrealang experiences. “(At this point), our team is focused on the future,” Walvius said. “We’ve been beating some of the top teams in the country. We have the toughest conference in women’s basketball. We all hate to lose, but to see individual growth is encouraging. They know that they’re the future of the program.” In Fabbri’s absence prior to her return Thursday night, Carolina struggled mightily on the offensive end. Sophomore Stacy Booker has been the lone bright spot for the Gamecocks since joining the starting lineup. Booker played the entire game in Sunday’s loss to top-ranked LSU and was the only double-digit scorer for USC with 15 points. The remaining nine players combined for only 21 points total. “I’m really excited about (Booker),” Walvius said. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement and the way she approaches practice. She’s been a leader for us. It didn’t come together right away for her this season and it may have frustrated her early on, but she’s done a great job for us.” The Tide and the Gamecocks met earlier this season in Tuscaloosa. Led by ♦ Please see BASKETBALL, page 9 KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK USC will embark on its second series of the 2005 season today when the Gamecocks play host to the Radford Highlanders for the first of a three-game series. The Gamecocks are 3-0 this season. Baseball to face Radford By BRIAN SAAL THE GAMECOCK The Carolina baseball team enjoyed its first weekend of play, sweeping •Longwood and outscoring the Lancers, 22-5. The Gamecocks will face the Radford Highlanders from Virginia starting today for a three-game series. The Big South team lost its first series this season to Old Dominion and will bring a 1-2 record to Sarge Frye Field this weekend. The Highlanders hit .284 as a team last weekend with senior first baseman Mark Fleisher leading the 'charge, going 6-12 with four RBIs and a homer. The righty also benefited his team by using his arm to win the final game of the series, pitching the first five innings. Fleisher went 4-for-4 Sunday With two RBIs to catapult his ball club to a 5-4 victory. The Gamecocks will keep their eyes on this senior. Radford finished 23-30 last season, ending his year at the Big South Conference tournament in Rock Hill. 'Lhe Gamecocks enjoyed their week of classes as senior Aaron Rawl was named SEC player of the week for his seven-inning performance in which he struck out five and allowed only one earned run for Carolina’s first win of the season, 5-1. Carolina hitters batted .333 last weekend with Davy Gregg leading the charge. The leadoff hitter went 7-for 13 and scored four runs. Senior shortstop Steven Tolleson had a team best five RBIs on the weekend with a .462 batting average. Senior right fielder Brendan Winn will need to bounce back from a sluggish season start last weekend. The senior went 1 -for-12 striking out six times, but look for Winn to bounce back and to have a good weekend. The campaign for the starting catcher position was in full force last weekend. Junior Ian Paxton made a name for himself opening day, going 2 for-4 with three RBIs, including a two run homer. Junior Cory Vanderhook got the start Saturday and went 0-for 2, drawing two walks. It appears both players will battle for the starting role this weekend as well. Junior Brent Marsh w? called in for the first save <• _ opportunity in this early season. Marsh gave up one hit and picked up his first career save at Carolina. The pitching staff went straight at the Lancers. The first batter they walked came in the fourth inning Sunday. Rawl, sophomore Conor Lalor, senior Zac McCamie, freshman Andrew Cruse and Marsh all pitched 18 innings without walking a single batter Friday or Saturday. Radford drew 15 walks but were struck out by the same amount. Look for the same aggressiveness from Carolina pitchers this weekend. Carolina is ranked No. 7 in both the ESPN/Sports Weekly poll and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll. After Radford, Carolina will face Niagara and Wofford at home then travel to the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn., for the Dairy Queen Classic. The first game is set for 3 p.m. Friday at Sarge. Games will start at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Comments o?i this story? E-mail gamecocksportstygw??!. sc.edu Carolina to compete at FSU KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK The Gamecocks will travel to Florida this weekend to play in the FSU tournament after two of their three games last weekend were cancelled. j t ■ Gamecocks to play in second tournament in as many weekends By MICHAEL FINNEGAN THE GAMECOCK The USC softball teams travels to Tallahassee, Fla., this weekend to participate in the FSU Tournament where they look to continue their winning ways. The Gamecocks are coming off a trip out west where they only played one game out of a scheduled five. The first two days of their tournament were rained out. Carolina’s only game of the tournament was Sunday, when they dominated Wisconsin to win 9-0 in six innings. Wednesday, Carolina lost both games of a double-header against Virginia Tech. Carolina opens up play Friday with Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions have compiled a record of 3-2 on the year. The Lions are led by senior Karin Smith at the plate. On the year, she has obtained a batting average ot .357 with two home runs, one in each of her last two games. She is SLU s all-time home run leader with 24. The hot pitcher for the Lions so far has been junior Summer Delaneuville. She has an 1.69 ERA while compiling a record of 3-1. She is a strikeout machine, having a record 32 strikeouts in only 16 innings. For Friday’s nightcap, Carolina matches up against tournament host and No. 10 Florida State (4-4). Junior Natasha Jacob is FSU’s leading hitter with a batting average of .417. FSU relies on many little hits, having yet to go yard this season. Senior Leslie Palmer, their power hitter, leads the team with four doubles. Defensively, FSU is very strong. FSU’s two main pitchers, senior Casey Hunter and freshman Tiffany McDonald, both have ERA’s less than 1. McDonald is undefeated with a record of 3-0, while ♦ Pleasfj see SOFTBALL, page ?