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Home > SECWB News & More! > Our Staff & Contributors > Marilyn McManus > Gamecocks Fall To LSU, 67-37
Gamecocks Fall To LSU, 67-37
by Marilyn McManus, SECWB.com
Posted: February 2nd, 2008 @ 10:05am
Source: View Box Score
The South Carolina Gamecocks traveled to Baton Rouge, Thursday night, and went down fighting–but they went down, nevertheless. The first half was close for 10 minutes, then the Tigers went on an 18-2 run, aided by 5 Gamecocks turnovers and 2 missed layups during that span. The Gamecocks did manage to cut the lead down to 11 at the half, with a couple of layups from freshman forward Jewel May.
In the second half, the Gamecocks were simply overwhelmed by the Tigers attack. Their shooting, which was adequate at 42% in the first half, fell to 30 in the second half. That, combined with an 0-11 drought from 3-point land and just too many turnovers, sealed the win for the LSU team. Another factor was the extremely physical play in this game. I did not see the game, I relied on radio coverage, but the radio commentator was not shy about describing the action on the court. Head coach Susan Walvius had commented, before the game, on the importance of the game officials in a contest where Sylvia Fowles is involved. Sylvia is a big, strong player and will wreak havoc if she is allowed free reign to use her size and strength. That certainly seemed to be the case on Thursday. On more than one occasion, it was noted that Fowles had either knocked or thrown an opposing player to the floor, resulting in a foul call–on the opposing player! That’s what a national ranking and a reputation will do for you. No, don’t call the conference office, I am not suggesting that the officials are biased. I am suggesting that sometimes they see what they expect to see (based on rank and reputation) much more clearly than they perceive what actually happened. One expects Sylvia to lay waste to the competition...and she usually does. Judge for yourself how much of it is due to her superior ability (which is undisputed) and how much is owed to the prejudicial expectations of game officials. Better yet, for this game, ask USC’s Ilona Burgrova about that; she seemed to be the most frequent victim of the Sylvia Effect on this night.
Fowles and Quianna Chaney led the scoring for LSU with 14 points apiece; Fowles added 7 rebounds. RaShonta LeBlanc had 10 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds for the Tigers.
The Gamecocks were led by Demetress Adams’ double-double, 15 points and 11 rebounds. The rebounding was surprisingly even, with LSU edging the Gamecocks 31-30. That was one of the high points for the Gamecocks. Another was the return of Lakesha Tolliver, after almost a month on the sidelines, after suffering “exertional headaches” in December. Tolliver was clearly rusty (4 turnovers) after the layoff, but played 16 minutes and shot well. Ilona Burgrova suffered through an off night, fouling out of the game late, with only 4 points and 2 rebounds. Burgrova, who is not exactly frail, also seemed to spend a lot of time getting up off of the floor after battling with Fowles in the paint. Jordan Jones also had an off night, scoring only 2 points on 1-6 shooting, but contributed 4 assists to the effort.
The Gamecocks return to action on Super Sunday, when they take on the Lady Backs from Arkansas at 3 pm at the Colonial Center.
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