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TH#§&AMECOCK - ' SPORTS Monday, Jan. 30,2006 1 ■ M... Page 7 USC women earn second SEC win Gamecocks improve to 11-8 after home win against Arkansas fllyssa liber THE GAMECOCK USC’s women earned a much needed 61-52 win against Arkansas on Sunday. It was a key win for the Gamecocks, who have struggled with the opening portion of their SEC schedule this season. The victory improves the Gamecocks’ SEC record to 2-5 and their overall record to 11-8. The loss was only the second in the SEC for the Razorbacks, who are 5-2 in SEC play and 13-7 overall. USC coach Susan Walvius acknowledged that her team has had to face a lot of top competitors to this point in the season. “We talked about it at the beginning of the season — that we had a very tough I stretch to open the SEC schedule. We only have two losses to non-top-20 teams, and our team understands that,” Walvius said. “Our team is very focused on the big picture. We’re in a very good place, and we’re in a position to do extremely well.” The Gamecocks took control of the game early, with 6-foot-6 sophomore Ilona Burgrova winning the tipoff for the team and junior forward Iva Sliskovic putting the first points on the board. Junior guard Lea Fabbri then had an impressive drive to the basket increasing Carolina’s initial lead. Arkansas rallied in the first half and briefly took the lead, but Carolina fought back. Once the Gamecocks regained the lead, they remained on top for the rest of the game. USC led by 10 points with six minutes left in the first half. The lead dwindled to four after the Razorbacks capitalized on several Carolina fouls. The first half ended with Carolina leading Arkansas 29-25. The Gamecocks carried their aggressiveness into the second half, playing a physical game and capitalizing on every opportunity to gain possession of the ball. Arkansas stayed in the game and was only down by four with a minute left to play. Nonetheless, Carolina was able to take advantage of a few Arkansas fouls and bolster their lead to secure the victory. “We were able to take Arkansas’ strengths away from them, and it was Juan Bias / THE GAMECOCK USC guard Stacy Booker surveys the court during the Gamecocks’ win Sunday. really a solid all around defensive effort,” Walvius said. “The nice thing about our basketball team is you are going to have a different person step up on any night of the week.” No USC player spent more than 24 minutes on the floor. Junior forward Melanie Johnson led thq team in points with 15, and Fabbri, Who went 5-for-5 from the floor, recorded 10 points. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gurm.sc.edu Odom’s squad loses steam down the stretch Vo Is’ beat USC for second time this season behind Lofion TomBennmg STAFF WRITER The USC men’s basketball team simply ran out of gas. After an emotional victory over Florida earlier in the week, the Gamecocks kept it close for much of the game against No. 19-ranked Tennessee on Saturday. However, in the closing minutes, Carolina melted down, giving the Vols an 81-65 victory. “The thing that is disappointing to me is I thought we played about as well as we could play for 3 7 minutes,” USC head coach { Dave* Odom said after the game. “We were only down six points with about three minutes on the clock and then gave in with a rash of errors at the end.” Carolina seemed poised to make a nm at the 3:11 mark after USC guard Tre’ Kelley hit a jumper, making it 69-63. On the next possession, the Gamecocks forced Tennessee to go deep into their shot clock, but UT forward Dane Bradshaw saved the Vols with a three-point play. Kelley quickly responded with another bucket to close Tennessee’s lead to seven, 72-65. But USC would not score again in the final 2:32, as the Vols ended the game on a 9-0 run. Odom was frustrated by the final difference — an ugly 16-point deficit. “[The final score] is regrettable because anybody who saw the game knows it was not a 16-point game but still we go home with that on our docket,” he said. “That is disappointing. I thought we could win the basketball game.” The game started well enough for Carolina, as its defensive intensity rattled Tennessee early and quieted the crowd of 20,06$. The Gamecocks had four blocks in the first six minutes and finished the game with eight. Midway through the first half, a three-pointer by USC guard Rocky Trice Wade Payne / Associated Press USC coach Dave Odom shares his frustration with officials during the Gamecocks’ 81-56 loss on Saturday. gave Carolina a 7-point lead, 22-15. After a two minute scoring drought for both teams, the Vols stormed back with a 10-0 run to reclaim the lead, 25 22, with 4:02 left to play. Even with the poor first half shooting performance of UT guard Chris Lofton, Tennessee went into the second half with a 33-28 lead. Lofton went l-of-6 from the field on his way to seven first half points. UT head coach Bruce Pearl felt fortunate to be ahead at halftime. “We did not play well in the first half,” he said. “We did not shoot well, and we were disrupted by the things South Carolina was doing. The second half was different.” Different spelled doom for the Gamecocks, as Lofton pulled out of his shooting slump and the Vols upped their game. Lofton finished the game with 23 points, three assists and five steals. Two minutes into the second half, Carolina pulled within three points of Tennessee, 36-33, but the Gamecocks continued to fight an uphill battle. With 8:36 to go, a three-pointer by USC guard Stephen McDowell again shrunk the lead to three, 55-52. However, UT scored eight quick points and maintained a healthy margin to the end. Even though both teams featured smaller lineups, Carolina was dominated on the inside. The Gfwneeocks lost the rebounding battle 43-30, and the - lack of a post presence forced USC to hoist up 30 three-point attempts. Another disparity in the game came in free throw opportunities. Tennessee attempted twenty-one free throws for 15 points, while USC only had only four attempts, amounting to 2 points. USC guard Tarence Kinsey lead the Gamecocks with team-highs of 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. In addition to Kinsey, Carolina was also paced by Kelley (11 points, five assists) and guard Dwayne Day (11 points). Forward Renaldo Balkman and guard Rocky Trice provided USC with a spark off the bench. Balkman had 8 points, six rebounds, and four blocks, while Trice added 9 points. In addition to Lofton, Tennessee (14-3, 5-1 SEC) posted big stats from forward Andre Patterson (13 points, 12 rebounds) and guard C.J. Watson (11 points, five rebounds). The loss dropped Carolina to 11-9 overall and to last place in the SEC East with a 2-5 record in conference play. The Gamecocks will get a week off before traveling to Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks on Saturday. Comments on this story? E-mail 7amecocksports@gwm.sc. eau Sports Briefs Mens tennis sweeps opening day of dual match season USC men’s tennis swept Troy and Wofford to open its dual-match season on Saturday. Pedro Rodrigues and Geraldo Knorr won both of their matches at No. 1 doubles, while Tom Eklund and Jaime Cuellar won each of their No. 2 doubles matches. The Gamecocks dropped the Trojans 7 0 in the morning match. USC lost just a single set in winning its first match of the season. Cuellar lost the first game of his singles match with Troy’s Marko Despot, but ran the table the rest of the way in winning 6-1, 6-0. In No. 1 singles, Eklund dropped the first set 5-7 to Troy’s Irving Morales, but came back to win the second set 6-2. In the 10 point, tie-breaking third set, Eklund was down 4-1 early, but won six straight points to take the match. Against Wofford, USC swept the top-five singles matches in straight sets. The Gamecocks host Appalachian State and Elon on Saturday. No. 22 women drop Davidson The No. 2 2-ranked USC women’s tennis team improved to 2-0 on the season by beating Davidson 7-0 on Sunday afternoon. The Gamecocks swept all three doubles matches. The USC team of “a freshman Gira Schofield and sophomore Megan McGavock beat the Wildcats’ team of Kelsey Linville and Kim Whelan 8-5inNo.l doubles.Senior I Danielle Wiggins and junior Miranda Gutierrez won their No. 2 doubles match 8-4 over Lindsey Powel and Michele Fanney ofDavidson. USC won all six of its singles matches as well. Schofield beat Linville 6-0, 6-1. Wiggins and McGavock each won their singles matches over Fanney and Whelan respectively. USC riders come up short at Big 8 Western Tournament The South Carolina j equestrian western team ; fell short of a fifth-place finish Saturday as they lost to Oklahoma State 717.5-693 at the Big 8 Western Tournament in College Station, Texas. USC’s Rachel Sternoff j was the only rider to pick up a win as she defeated OSU’s Brianne Wiebe in horsemanship. Sternoff defeated Wiebe 143-141 and recorded her second win of the weekend, after claiming a reining victory against Baylor earlier in the ' tournament.