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Home > SECWB News & More! > SEC Teams > Florida > Gamecocks Bow Out of SEC Tournament in First Round, 71-57
Gamecocks Bow Out of SEC Tournament in First Round, 71-57
by Marilyn McManus, SECWB.com
Posted: March 7th, 2008 @ 11:10am
Source: View Box Score
The South Carolina Gamecocks fell behind in the first half, a recurring pattern during this troubled season, and ended up losing to the Florida Gators, 71-57, in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament. The Gamecocks shot only 19% in the first half and had trouble defending the 3-point shot from the corners. Florida’s Depree Bowden had 20 first-half points, mostly off of 3-point shots, to put the Gamecocks into a hole they could not climb out of.
The Carolina team did make some good adjustments after the break. Bowden scored only one more point in the game, but the Gamecocks were unable to keep up the defensive pace necessary to get some needed stops. They improved their shooting to 45% in the second half and actually outscored the Gators, 40-37, but the Gamecocks were never able to put on a sustained scoring run to pose a serious challenge in the second half.
Senior center Ilona Burgrova was the leading scorer for the Gamecocks, with 12 points on 6 of 8 shots. She also had 8 rebounds. Three other Gamecock players had 9 points apiece: Demetress Adams, who also had 9 rebounds ,Lakesha Tolliver and Jordan Jones. The freshman sharpshooter was unable to get into the scoring column until the second half, but finished with 6 rebounds to go with her 9 points. Freshman reserve point guard Samone Kennedy had 5 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in 27 minutes of play.
Florida was led by Depree Bowden with 21 points, Sha Brooks with 14 points and Aneika Henry with 10. Sharielle Smith had 7 rebounds to lead the Gators in that category.
The season is over, but controversy lives on—and will likely persist until next season. There are rumors aplenty about the job security of the coaching staff and there was a lot of talk in the stands about the omission of Jordan Jones from the SEC All-Freshman team—and not just from Gamecocks fans. It seemed a little suspicious to many basketball fans that Jordan was 12th in the entire conference in scoring and first in # of 3-point shots made and was not voted onto the team. I’m just sayin’…
This was the final game in a South Carolina uniform for Burgrova, Tolliver and Ebony Jones. The rest of the team returns, along with a recruiting class ranked in the Top Twenty in the country, for the 2008-2009 season.
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