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Home > SECWB News & More! > WNIT > Gamecock Season Continues in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament
Gamecock Season Continues in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament
by Marilyn McManus, SECWB.com
Posted: March 19th, 2008 @ 1:52am
The South Carolina Gamecocks have been precariously perched on the WNIT bubble for nearly ten days. Last night, they slipped into the WNIT field of 48 teams with an at-large bid.
The Gamecocks will play a first-round game on Friday, when they host the North Carolina A & T Aggies at the Colonial Center.
The Aggies are led by head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs, in her third year at the A & T helm. She has been coaching for 23 years, however, and surpassed 400 wins this season. Prior to coming to A & T, she coached 13 years at Grambling, her alma mater ,and spent another 7 years at Hampton. She has won 9 conference tournament championships, made 6 NCAA Tournament appearances and has 10 regular-season conference championships during that time span.
Bibbs is known for a “never say quit” attitude and “Pressure Cooker” defense–full court press for the entire game. Despite her defensive focus, she has also put some offense into the equation with her newly formed “Fun and Run” offense that is not afraid to shoot the ball between 90-100 times per game. The Aggies are 25-7 this season, having missed winning their conference tournament (and an automatic NCAA bid) by 2 points.
The Aggies boast 3 players averaging scoring in double figures: Penn State transfer Amber Bland (15.1 ppg), Ta’Wuana “Tweet” Cook (13.5 ppg) and UCSB transfer Britta Taylor-James (11.6).
Lamona Smalley leads the team in rebounding with 7.5 per game, followed by Bland (5.6) and freshman Jalessa Sams with 5.4 per game.
This is a young team, with 1 senior, 3 juniors, 5 sophomores and 3 freshmen; there are usually 2 sophomores and a freshman in the starting lineup. The Aggies go about 7 players deep, but everyone plays. Everyone averages at least 6 minutes per game, and only one player has seen action in less than 17 games. That player is LaPorsha Lowry, who does not appear on the current roster, though she does show up in the season statistics, which indicate that she played in 4 games this season. (?)
The Gamecocks have 2 players averaging double figures: Jordan Jones at 12 points per game and Demetress Adams with 10.8 ppg. Three other players average over 9 points per game. Adams leads the team in rebounding with an average of 9 per game, followed by senior center Ilona Burgrova with 6.4 per game. Adams also leads the team in blocked shots, with54, and steals, with 63.
The teams have met before. Last season, the Aggies visited the Colonial Center and absorbed a 117-63 beating. However, things have changed a great deal since that matchup. The Aggies return most of the players from that game, plus a few more. One is freshman Jalessa Sams, a frequent starter and solid contributor. And the Gamecocks have changed, dramatically. Three of the five high scorers in last year’s game are no longer with the team; two graduated and Kellindra Zackery (who led the team with 28 points and 11 rebounds that night) has transferred to Rutgers. Five other seniors also departed the team. Last year’s team was loaded with experience; the Gamecocks are now a very young team, dominated by freshmen and plagued by inconsistency–though that is not solely due to the freshman, to be sure. Building on-court chemistry has taken some time and was affected by the loss of several players over the course of the season. Focus has been a problem, at times, and the Gamecocks have a serious problem with too many turnovers. That could play into the hands of the Aggies, who turn over the ball quite a bit, themselves (661 for the Aggies and 621 for the Gamecocks). A big difference, however, is that the Aggies force a lot more turnovers; they had 426 steals this season, compared to 268 for the Gamecocks. Field goal percentage will be important, too, meaning good judgment in shot selection will be a major advantage in this game. The Aggies shoot it a LOT. They have taken 1990 shots this season, 171 more than their opponents, and hit at a 44% success rate. The Gamecocks have taken 1732 shots this year and hit 40% of them. The Gamecocks have not handled pressure particularly well, this season, and the Aggies promise to apply some pressure. Happily, the Gamecocks have had some strong performances down the backstretch of the season, winning 4 of their last 8 conference games. The problem, again, being inconsistency. They turned in solid performances against Auburn and Florida in the final weeks, but were unimpressive against Georgia and floundered against Florida in the first round of the SEC tournament. If the Gamecocks show up, focused and ready to play, this could be a rematch of last year’s game. On the other hand, past experience also indicates that this game could end up a lot closer than Gamecocks fans would like it to be. The Aggies will be coming in with the confidence that comes from a 25-7 record, a revenge motive, and a serious desire to show the field that they can play with–and beat--anyone. The South Carolina team will be in for a battle on Friday night, but it is one that they should win.
Tickets for Friday night’s game are $8 and the game begins at 7 pm.
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