UA women falter at South Carolina

DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Junior Shaunzinski Gortman scored 17 points as South Carolina handed Arkansas a 66-49 defeat in the opening game of SEC women's basketball play.
South Carolina (5-8) picked up only its second SEC-opening victory and ended Arkansas' seven-game winning streak. The last time South Carolina won its league opener was against Mississippi State in 1994.
"It didn't seem to matter who we went with, we were all off tonight," Arkansas Coach Gary Blair said. "In its own way, it was a total team effort."
South Carolina's 2-3 zone frustrated the Lady Razorbacks (8-4) in the second half. Arkansas shot 42.9 percent from the field in the first half but finished the game at 34.6 percent, thanks to a 6-of-24 second half.
"They were changing the zone around, and our younger players weren't doing a good job of reading the changes," Blair said. "We made too many bad decisions tonight."
Arkansas battled from behind most of the first half. An 8-0 run midway through the period, keyed by two driving jumpers by Dana Cherry, tied the game at 25. But the Lady Gamecocks responded with a 7-0 run to lead 32-25 with three minutes left in the half.
"We did a good job to fight back into the game in the first half," Blair said. "I thought we had regained control of the game with that run at the end of the first half."
Cherry and Wendi Willits led Arkansas on a 6-0 run to close the first half, holding South Carolina scoreless for the final 3:12 and a 32-31 halftime lead, but it was Arkansas that struggled to open the second half.
Shameka Christon hit the opening basket of the second half, then Arkansas missed its next eight field-goal attempts.
"After we started missing, we had to get out of the press," Blair said. "When we were missing, we didn't have any enthusiasm, and we had to get out of the press."
Petra Ujhelyi scored six points as South Carolina went on a 14-2 run to take command of the game 47-35 with 14:54 to play. The Lady Gamecocks extended their lead to as many as 19 as Arkansas managed only two field goals in the first 12 minutes of the half.
"Defensively, that was about as bad as we could look," Blair said. "They did a great job in beating us off the dribble penetration."
Christon led Arkansas with 11 points, while Celia Anderson came off the bench for 10.
Tatyana Troina and Teresa Geter added 10 points each for South Carolina, and Nihan Anaz came off the bench to score 11.
The Lady Razorbacks' leading scorers, Lonniya Bragg and Willits, combined for only 13 points.
Willits hit only 3 of 10 shots, only 2 of 7 from three-point range.
Bragg battled just to play in the game. The 5-11 senior post suffered a second-degree ankle sprain on her right leg during the team's shoot-around practice earlier in the day.
Bragg went 30 minutes in the game, and her playing time seemed limited only by a cut that sent her to the bench in the first half and a poke in the right eye in the second half. She finished with five points but led the team in rebounds with six.
"She deserves a lot of credit for getting out there and playing after that," Blair said. "I can't believe she played as much as she did."
Arkansas plays host to Tulsa on Friday in a nonconference game. The Lady Razorbacks return to SEC action Sunday against second-ranked Tennessee at Bud Walton.

This article was published on January 3, 2001

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