The South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team travels to the Upstate on Thursday to take on the Clemson Tigers, their second game of the 2009-2010 season.

Carolina survived a trip to Charlotte in their Monday night opener, coming away with a 70-66 overtime win over the 49ers. After that game, they should be ready for anything.

The Clemson Tigers, who were 14-17 overall last season, return all but two players from that team. Among their 14 wins was a 52-45 victory over the Gamecocks at the Colonial Center. Senior G/F Lele Hardy is the team leader, having averaged 16.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last season. An experienced supporting cast joins her, but someone among that group will need to step up and provide another option for the Tigers, as well as some offensive firepower for the future. (Nobody else on the team averaged double-figures scoring.)  In 2008-09, Clemson averaged 64.4 point per game, while allowing 67.5 points per game--which, in part, explains their losing record. The Gamecocks' statistics from the season past are even more dismal: they scored 57.7 points a game, while allowing 62.6 to their opponents. So it might appear that this will be a fairly even contest, as it well may.

However, while Clemson returns essentially the same team, the Gamecocks bear little resemblance to last year's team. Three players have graduated, all of whom played crucial roles over the past couple of year, and three more have moved on, in search of greener pastures in which to showcase their skills. While returning six veteran players, the Gamecocks have two newcomers in the starting five. The six returning players: junior F Jewel May, junior G Samone Kennedy, junior G Coco Falohun, redshirt sophomore G Courtney Newton, sophomore G Lakeisha Sutton and sophomore F Charenee Stephens all spent time on the court last season and will likely be needed to play significant minutes during the current season. They are joined by five newcomers: transfers Valerie Nainima, a junior G from Fiji who sat out last season and sophomore G Ebony Wilson; freshmen G Ieasia Walker, F Ashley Bruner and C Kelsey Bone. You'd have to be living under a rock somewhere to not be aware that Ms. Bone is the highest ranked recruit (#2 in the country, by most scouting entities) to ever sign up to play at South Carolina. Huge things are expected of her, a fact that is not lost on her.

Bone and Nainima were in the starting lineup for the season opener and shared the scoring honors with 22 points apiece. Charenee Stephens led the team in rebounding with 12, 4 of them offensive boards. Bone also had 11 rebounds (5 offensive) to manage a double-double in her first collegiate outing. But the biggest change for this season appears to be a renewed focus and relentless energy. Against Charlotte, the Gamecocks fell behind early and often looked pretty bad, doing so. However, they showed their resilience by clawing their way back into the game, applying enough pressure to make the 49ers crack (not an easy task against a tough and determined team that made the NCAA tournament field, last season) just enough to allow themselves an opportunity to win the game. Play actually improved over the course of the game, which they should keep in mind for some of the tougher games that are to come, this season. If they can maintain that focus and energy, they should be competitive in every game this season.

The next opportunity comes Thursday. The game is at 7 pm at Littlejohn Coliseum on the Clemson campus. If you can't make it to Clemson, tune in on the radio.