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B WOMEN Continued from page l Gamecocks lost last Sunday in Oxford, but will face the Rebels on a neutral court. Mote importantly, the tournament is being held at the Bi-Lo. Center in Greenville, giving Carolina fans a chance to create a home atmosphere for the Gamecocks. “It’s a tough match-up for a lot of reasons, Mississippi head coach Carol Ross said. “We just played them, and it was a very hard fought win for us at home. They are considered the home team, since the tournament is in South Carolina. They also happen to be a hot team and are playing with great confidence." Walvius expressed similar feelings with the hope that playing through the season has given her young team enough experience and confidence to perform the way it has the past two weeks. “We have won two of our last three, and we are excited that Greenville decided to host," Walvius said. “I hope we’re continuing to play well because we’re going to have to play well to play Mississippi. We have been in the lead against the majority of SEC teams in the second half. Our issue is finishing and having some confidence to win." A second issue will be the rebounding and defensive skills of the Rebels. Ole Miss leads the conference with 45.2 rebounds per game and is No. 24 in the nation in scoring offense with 72.7 points per game. In contrast, the Gamecocks rank last in the conference at 58.4 points per game, which could be attributed to the slower pace that has been used to offset the injuries and absences of players throughout the season. “Mississippi is a good team; they are a great rebounding team and solid defensively," Walvius said. “We’re going to have to defend and rebound to be successful." Should Carolina defeat the Rebels, it will be suited to face No. 18 Georgia, the four seed in the tournament behind national powers No. 1 LSU, No. 5 Tennessee and No. 19 Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs defeated Carolina 73-42 in the first round of last season’s tournament and took a 67-51 victory over the Gamecocks earlier this season in Athens. “In having a relatively young team with all freshmen and sophomores and one junior, our players have not really experienced the SEC Tournament," Walvius said. Tip-off Thursday night against Mississippi is set for 7 p.m. on Fox Sports Net. Should the Gamecocks proceed, each consecutive day in the tournament for USC would be played at 7 p.m., with the early round games broadcast on FSN and the final on ESPN2 Sunday night. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockspons@givm.sc. edu SEC News & Notes USC s Pearce takes conference honors USC senior third baseman Steve Pearce was named both S,EC\Y/nd^an0nal Player of the ,Week following a .615 batung performance in this past weekend’s three-game sweep of Niagara ,Peaf“ Went8-of-13 at the plate hitting three home runs, jwo of which were grand slams. The senior alSo totaled 10 RB1s for the weekend Two of Pearce’s u i j s nome runs, including a grand slam, came in Saturday sl9-,wlnagamstthe Purple Eagles. His grand slajn Sunday broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Gamecocks a 6-2 win. The Lakeland, Fla. native went a perfect 5-of-5 from the plate on Saturday, the second five-hit game of his career. USC (9-0) remains No. 5 in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Polls. Kentucky’s Sparks grabs hoops honor Kentucky guard junior Patrick Sparks helped the Wildcats clinch the SEC title and was named SEC Player of the Week for his effort. Sparks scored 26 points as the No. 5 Wildcats won the clincher 78-71 over No. 14 Alabama. Kentucky rallied from a 14-point first half deficit behind Sparks’ 20 second-half points to give the Tide their first home loss of the season. The junior went 7-of 10 from beyond the arc, and the Wildcats shot 68 percent as a team from three-point range. The Central City, Ky., native is averaging 11.6 points and nearly four assists a game. It was the second time Sparks was honored this season. ■ BASEBALL Continued from page 12 Gamecocks tonight will be junior pitcher Andy Lambert. This will be USC fans’ first look at Lambert, as he sat out the first season with a medical redshirt and has not made an appearance this season. On offense for Wofford, expect senior second baseman Anthony DiNardo and senior first baseman David Long to be the biggest threats to a Carolina shutout. DiNardo and Long have been known for great hitting, both batting at .421 and .368, respectively. Even with the hitting of these two sluggers, the Terriers’ offense is far from where it needs to be. This Wofford team has been outscored in 12 games, 97-55, against less than stellar competition. That is compared to USC’s 98-19 outscoring of opponents on the season. The Gamecocks have proven a perennial power in recent years. Since 2002, Carolina is 57-32 in SEC play, 96-22 at home and 155 57 overall. It has outscored its opponents 1513-909, and has hit 296 homers compared to opponents’ 165. Since 2000 the Gamecocks are 59-1 overall in the month of February. This year the Gamecocks are batting .359 as a team and boast a 1.89 ERA from the mound. They have recorded 79 strikeouts and have already scored 98 times. Also, the Gamecocks have won more Division I baseball games in the past five years than any other team in the country. Comments on this story? E-mail ga7necocksports@gum.sc.edu ■ BROOM Continued from page 1 on her cake. Meanwhile two Palmetto Boxing Academy employees are wiping blood from the corner of the ring. Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of those things you can only see at Fraternity Fight Night. What a moment. 10:03 p.m. Two big slow dudes are fighting, so it’s hard to pay attention. I just noticed that this is a huge dark foggy room with a well-lit boxing ring in the middle. If R. Kelly shows up and starts singing “World’s Greatest” I’m leaving. Luckily you had to be 18 to enter, so we should all be safe. 11:10 p.m. My roommate and I are bored, and it is almost over, so we’re heading to the Russell House before Pizza Hut closes. We decided that if they really wanted to raise money for charity they should have Sorority Fight Night. Every guy on campus would be there. We already have the perfect catch phrase: “Sorority Fight Night: Float like a butterfly, it stings when I pee." I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding. (If you don’t understand that last part, just pretend I never said it.) Interested jn taking The Gamecock Challenge? ^•rks trfo-^ea^he editors, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt. Send your P' np"am;ecocksports@gwm.sc.edu by 2 p.m. Thursday. We’ll select U M °n’s picks, at random, to be our Reader of the Week. This week’s games; ArUan arria at Mississippi State 13 Syracuse at 15 Connecticut >/ Hnsas at Auburn 20 Oklahoma at Texas Tech rpr,re- t at LSU Clemson at Georgia Tech ^urgia at Tennessee 6 Duke at 2 North Carolina rventucky at Florida Ole Miss at USC ♦^.-breaking purposes, please include your score for the Ub LE MISS GAME. AND DON’T FORGET YOUR NAME! GRE GMAT LSAT MCAT ^ DAT OAT PCAT TOEFL I Receive a *100 rebate when you enroll in a Kaplan course between March 1 and March 31. Limited time offer! Call or visit us online for more Information or to enroll. /t 1-800-KAP-TEST tr kaptest.com/rebate Test Prep and Admissions •test names are registered trademarks ol the* respect** owns * 'Conditions and restrloans apply For esovtatt guarantee ehgomty E requirement*. vtM kaptest .com/hag. The H^»er Score Guarantee apckes on* w Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions worses taken and E completed wrthind>* United States and Canada. 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