The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 18, 2005, Page 8, Image 8
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.
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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.
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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 ?