The Gamecocks got off to a slow and sloppy start, allowing Florida way too many easy shots, while making their own silly mistakes: fouls, bad passes, lax defense on shooters behind the 3-point line. By the time they stopped to take a breath, the Gamecocks were trailing 5-14.

With junior guard and leading scorer Valerie Nainima struggling to find an open shot and the Gators hitting layups and open 3s, the Carolina team was down 7-20 before regrouping enough to start changing the momentum of the game. Carolina turned up the defensive pressure and Nainima's first 3 made the score 12-20. With 4:35 left in the first half, sophomore forward Charenee Stephens took it inside to tie the game at 23 and was fouled. She converted the free throw to give Carolina its first lead since the opening minutes of the game. The final 4 minutes of the half featured ragged play at both ends of the court, silly turnovers by both teams and a no-call when USC's freshman center Kelsey Bone was hammered going up for a shot. Both teams were moving at breakneck speed and not taking very good care of the ball. The Gamecocks did get the final possession of the half, with about 29 seconds left, but waited way too long to get a play underway. With about 6 seconds left on the clock, freshman guard Ieasia Walker finally cut to the basket, got wrong-footed and put up a weak shot attempt that was blocked by Jennifer George, leaving the teams deadlocked 27-27 at halftime.

The Gamecocks came out of halftime looking inspired and took the lead, but failed to take Florida out of the game and continued to commit silly fouls and make the game too easy for the Gators. The Carolina team was getting out-hustled, with players standing around instead of blocking out, failing to go after a loose ball, long rebound or errant pass. Still, they kept the game close, even while Bone was being held scoreless for much of the second half. Then the mistakes kept coming: Bone sat down with her fourth foul at 8:52 and Florida was in the bonus. A Gamecock player committed a lane violation, negating a Nainima free throw and they just didn't play a very smart game--but they kept hanging on and stayed in a position to win the game. At 2:22, Florida led the game 55-51. Then Bone hit a shot and was fouled, converted the free throw and the score was USC 54, Florida 55 with a minute and a half to play. Florida brought the ball down the floor and hit a 2-pointer, taking a 56-55 lead with about 37 seconds left. The Gamecocks called time out to set up a play and when play resumed, got 2 chances to take the lead. Sutton slashed to the basket and had her shot blocked, but Bone picked up the loose ball and got a good look at a short jumper, but failed to hit the shot. The Gamecocks were forced to foul for a chance to get the ball back, with about 7 seconds left on the clock and the Gators converted both shots. A desperation 3 as time ran out missed badly and Florida escaped with the 59-56 win.

I've got to give equal time to the officiating crew today--I don't hold back when they're terrible, so I want to mention that today's crew (June Courteau, Eddie Novak and Carla Fountain) did a fairly decent job, may have even gone out of their way to be diligent with their calls. A bit too diligent, perhaps, late in the game--when they took about 10 minutes to decide how much time to take off the clock when it failed to start at a change of possession. Neither coach really liked the decision, which was kind of predictable, so it needn't have taken quite that long when both teams were raring to end the game. However, they seemed focused on what they were doing and the effect they were having on the game and that's a good thing. There were 2 offensive fouls called that are rarely seen--one on each team and both were correct calls-- a "chicken wing" against a Florida guard (otherwise known as the elbow to the gut to get the defender off) and a slightly less violent shove from Walker that put Florida's Jordan Jones on her butt. There was also an "inadvertent whistle" when Courteau jumped the gun over a possible over-and-back call against the Gamecocks. Her correction of the whistle may have been in error, but it was correctly handled. She blew the whistle before she knew if the infraction had occurred; at that point, she decided it was an error (inadvertent) stopped play and gave the ball back to the Gamecocks for an out-of-bounds play. Florida's bench didn't have much to say about the call--so maybe June was right, after all. We only got to see a couple of replays--which the refs didn't resort to--so it's hard to say. 

The Gamecocks' inexperience really showed in this game. Sophomore guard LaKeisha Sutton, characterized by the broadcasters as a "high-risk, high-reward" player, showed a little of each today. She got off to a ragged start, but calmed down and ended up scoring 15 points. Freshman Bone had a double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds--not a bad game, by any measure. But she was held in check by Florida's zone for most of the second half and needs to know that she has backup and doesn't have to do it all by herself. Likewise, Nainima. You don't want to tell a shooter to stop shooting--everyone misses a string of shots, sometime--but there may be times when it's a better idea to feed it inside and wait for a really good look at the 3. Nainima ended up scoring 12 points on 4-20 shooting, along with an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers. Freshman guard Ieasia Walker has some amazing ballhandling skills, but needs to learn that sometimes it's better to get rid of the ball than pull a Houdini move--after all, if she's double-teamed, someone is OPEN.

So, anyway, it was a rough day for the Gamecocks--doubly so, because although they did not play particularly well, they still had chances to win this game. It was very much a winnable game. It just didn't happen. It's a young team, with a lot still to learn. Hopefully, the lessons learned today will not have to be repeated.

 

Thursday night, the Gamecocks play host to a hot and high-flying Ole Miss team. Tipoff is set for 7 pm.