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UA women, South Carolina have been down the same roads
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ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
FAYETTEVILLE -- When Arkansas looks across the court at South Carolina tonight, the Lady Razorbacks may feel as if they're looking into a mirror.
As two of the three teams -- Ole Miss is the other -- trying to get out of the SEC basement, Arkansas (10-7, 1-4) and South Carolina (11-7, 1-4) have had similar problems this season.
Those problems include lapses of concentration and focus, and inconsistent play in the closing minutes of games for the relatively young and inexperienced teams.
"When I watch their team, I see similar weaknesses as ours," South Carolina Coach Susan Walvius said.
Arkansas and South Carolina notched their first league victories of the season against Vanderbilt last week. The Lady Gamecocks edged the Commodores 52-48, while Arkansas earned a 61-52 victory.
But Arkansas hopes to fare better coming off its first SEC victory than South Carolina did. After beating Vanderbilt, South Carolina played Florida close for a while, but eventually fell apart in a 76-62 loss.
"I thought that beating Vanderbilt would have given us a shot in the arm," Walvius said. "Instead, we came out uninspired. That didn't make sense to me."
Walvius figured the Lady Gamecocks would be energized by their first SEC victory after going 0-14 last season and opening 0-3 in the league this year.
After the subsequent practices, Walvius said her team will be ready tonight.
Arkansas Coach Gary Blair and his Lady Razorbacks also enter tonight's game feeling much better about themselves after ending a five-game losing streak.
"It was like we had a monkey on our back that weighed about 500 pounds," Blair said. "That win against Vanderbilt helped our confidence more than anything. We knew we could've played better, but we played well enough to win against what we consider a Top 25 program."
Besides not making critical mistakes down the stretch, Arkansas made more hustle plays than Vanderbilt, keeping balls alive after missed shots and scrambling for every loose ball.
"Those are the type of things, where our talent level is, that we've got to do on a consistent basis," Blair said.
Arkansas got two of its best efforts in hustle plays from a couple of unlikely sources, senior forward Karyn Karlin and junior center Celia Anderson.
Blair said it's not that Karlin and Anderson don't always play hard, but that "when other players see bigger kids trying that hard, it makes everybody want to play hard. And it takes pressure off younger players."
Karlin finished with 13 points and six rebounds, but Blair was equally impressed with Anderson, who had six points and five rebounds.
"There's a difference between scoring and blocking shots, and making plays," Blair said. "Celia made a lot of plays that don't show up on the stat sheet."
Walvius said her team, with the exception of the Florida game, has played with a similar sense of urgency.
"We've been capable of winning some other games, but haven't put them away," Walvius said. "We're certainly capable of beating people."
That's why Walvius said she believes South Carolina can still be a good team this year. Walvius also sees a mirror image in Arkansas.
"They're a real good team," Walvius said. "The ball just hasn't bounced their way a couple of times."
This article was published on Thursday, January 27, 2000
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