S. Carolina women beat Georgia Southern

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Posted 7:44AM on Wednesday, December 4, 2002

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Jocelyn Penn scored 26 points and had 11 rebounds as South Carolina shook off some sloppy play to beat Georgia Southern 75-54 on Tuesday night. The No. 23 Gamecocks (5-0) turned the ball over 30 times before putting the Eagles (3-2) away with a 20-5 run during the game's final 11 minutes. But South Carolina countered the haphazard play with crisp shooting, going 31-of-55 (56.4 percent) from the field, including 11-of-13 for Penn. The Eagles shot just 23-of-73 (31.5 percent). The Gamecocks also pulled down 32 offensive boards to Georgia Southern's 16. Kelly Morrone had 17 points, and Petra Ujhelyi added 13 points and 12 rebounds for South Carolina. Mimi Lindsey led Georgia Southern with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Shawnica Hill added 12 points and six boards, and Tiffany Lanier got 10 of the Eagles' 19 steals. After leading by 10 at the break, South Carolina jumped on the Eagles early in the second half, taking a 51-38 lead with 16 minutes left in the game. The Gamecocks would turn over the ball nine times in the next eight minutes, and Georgia Southern cut South Carolina's lead to 53-49 on Adrienne Early's jumper with 11:26 left. But the Eagles would miss 13 of their next 15 shots and turn the ball over seven times during an 18-5 Gamecock run. That run took some time to develop. South Carolina guard Vania Redd's lay-up that made it 55-49 was the only scoring during the next three minutes as the teams combined to miss their next eight shots and turn over the ball six times before Penn's lay-up put the Gamecocks up eight with eight minutes to go. Coach Susan Walvius constantly substituted throughout the game, expanding her normal rotation of seven players to nine to try to shake South Carolina out of its doldrums after winning two games over the weekend at the Paradise Jam tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands. But even with the problems, the Gamecocks still led 44-34 at the break after an 18-8 run to end the half. Morrone, who has started every game but averaged just three points a contest, buried her second 3-pointer of the half to break a 26-all tie with 6:30 to go. Two possessions later, Morrone would hit another triple to give South Carolina a six-point lead. Morrone ended the half with 12 points, shooting 4-of-5 on 3-pointers. The Gamecocks won't have much time to rest. A scheduling conflict at the Carolina Center is forcing South Carolina to play back-to-back games. The Gamecocks take on Wofford on Wednesday night. Georgia Southern has beaten South Carolina just once in 17 tries, and that came because of a forfeit in December 1980. The Eagles also have lost all 33 of their games against ranked opponents.