The South Carolina women's basketball team concludes a 2-game road trip against the Florida Gators at the O'Connell Center on Sunday, the only time the teams will meet this season--with the possible exception of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Florida Gators (10-9, 3-3 SEC) have a wildly inconsistent record of performances, thus far this season. None of their wins are overly impressive, although a win over Auburn is a plus and Mississippi State came into this season with the tools to be one of the best teams in the SEC. Some of Florida's losses ( to St. John's, Pitt and High Point--at the O'Connell Center!) were a bit horrendous. They also had a couple of losses that one might be tempted to call "moral victories"--assuming that one believed in that concept, which I do not.  So, how is it that a team that loses by 7 to High Point plays the University of Tennessee Lady Vols to a draw, before losing 64-66?  And then that same team gets dominated (58-82) by a struggling SEC cellar-dweller in Alabama?

Hey, if I knew the answer I'd be selling my services to Florida! They have a good reputation for paying well to get the job done in the athletics department--but I digress.

One notable thing about the Gators is that they don't have a lot of height. Starting center (sophomore) Azania Stewart is 6-4 and only 2 other players with significant minutes top 6 feet. The Gators rely on senior forward Sharielle Smith (who is 5-10) to lead the team in rebounding (7 per game average) followed by senior guard Steffi Sorensen (6.2 rebounds per game) who is also 5-10, and freshman forward Jennifer George (6-0) is third with 5.1 rebounds per game. A team with good height, that knows how to use height to their advantage, should be able to make some headway against the Gators by dominating in the rebounding department and getting significantly more possessions for the game.

For scoring, the Gators go to (former Gamecock) redshirt sophomore Jordan Jones, leading the team with a 10.7 points per game average. Jones also leads the team in assists (58) , steals (31) and turnovers (45). Nobody else on the team averages double-figure scoring.  With their low production, the Gators have to rely on a balanced attack and pretty good defense to be able to win games. Several players have nice, solid--if unimpressive--stats to their credit. Smith averages 9 points and 7 rebounds a game; Sorensen, 7.9 points and 6.2 rebounds; George, 6.6 points and 5.1 rebounds. Any of those players getting hot could mean the difference between a win and a loss for the Gators; likewise, one of those players getting shut down could doom them. Azania Stewart owns the job of defending the paint and leads the team in blocked shots, with 24, while scoring 8.2 points per game.

I had some really good notes about how the Florida team and their conference standing, as well as their season statistics compared with their conference-only statistics. Too bad I misplaced them somewhere, now that I have only hours to get a preview article posted. Suffice to say that one of the remarkable things it showed was that Florida's production has fallen off somewhat, since the beginning of conference play. The same thing is true of leading scorer Jordan Jones' production, which may suggest that this team was more competitive before conference play began. Still, they've had their moments of tough, inspired play (witness the Tennessee game) and can't be taken lightly, especially on their home court.

The Gators, as a team, average 65.4 points per game, while allowing 59.6 points per game. Except for turnovers, which are even, they are just a little bit better than their opponents in every statistical category.

However, the Gamecocks have a little bit more height and a bit more speed and, despite the relative inexperience of the South Carolina team, I think the Gamecocks have the advantage. The freshmen still struggle, at times, and make some mistakes--but they have all been in some big games and performed impressively, too. Gamecock fans were happy to have a scorer of Jordan Jones' caliber, 2 years ago, but she'd have to fight for a starting position on the current team.  That she is considered the best guard on the Florida team is a point in South Carolina's favor, for this matchup. I'd expect to see the Gamecocks go inside to freshman center Kelsey Bone to see how she matches up against Stewart; the help she gets inside from junior forward Jewel May and sophomore forward Charenee Stephens could make a lot of difference in the game. Meanwhile, junior guard Valerie Nainima will be shooting--and passing-- from all over the court. Sohpomore guard LaKeisha Sutton has recently stepped up her scoring, especially slashing to the basket. Junior point guard Samone Kennedy will be pushing the ball up the court, along with freshman guard Ieasia Walker. Freshman forward Ashley Bruner should be able to come off the bench and contribute, along with sophomore guard Ebony Wilson and senior guard Cocoa Falohun.

The game is covered by the Sunshine Network and tipoff is set for 1 pm.