The South Carolina women's basketball team travel to Athens on Sunday to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in Stegeman Coliseum. South Carolina is currently 12-10, 5-5 SEC and is winning the games that they are expected to win, for the most part. (Some might say they are winning a few that they weren't expected to win.) They have dropped a couple that they probably should have won, as well--not an unusual situation for a youngish team or one with a lot of new players this season.  The Georgia Bulldogs know that feeling. Georgia is also a young team, with a lot of new players. In fact, they have 6 freshmen on the roster, one of whom is a starter and a couple more who play significant minutes and contribute heavily to the team effort.

Georgia got off to a red-hot start, this season, winning 16 straight games before dropping one (badly, 44-66) at Vanderbilt. They came right back to beat Arkansas on the road, then stunned Tennessee with a 3-point win, 53-50 at home. Apparently, they stunned themselves, as well. After the win over the Lady Vols, the Bulldogs went into a 3-game swoon, losing to Ole Miss 65-66, at Mississippi State 66-74 and at Auburn 53-67. None of those teams stink, but the Top Ten (at the time) 'Dogs should have been able to focus well enough to beat them all. They did rally to break the losing streak by beating the LSU Tigers on Thursday night in overtime, 49-46.

The Dogs are either versatile or confused. They don't put up terribly high scores, having scored 80 points only twice this season--both wins. They have won 2 games in which they scored less than 50 points, so they clearly have the ability to play some defense. They are averaging 63.9 points per game, while allowing 53.7 points. They lead opponents in most categories (exceptions are 3-point shooting and free throw percentage) but not by very much, so they are used to some close games. They have played 5 games in which the winning margin was less than 5 points and they are 4-1 in those games.  And 4 of those games have come in the SEC season, since the dawn of the New Year.

The Dogs are led by senior guard Ashley Houts, averaging 11.9 points per game and freshman guard Jasmine James, averaging 11.8 points per game. Houts has 83 assists and James 77. Redshirt senior forward Angel Robinson leads in rebounding with 7.8 per game and junior forward Porsha Phillips averages 7.7 rebounds per game. The other starter is sophomore guard Meredith Mitchell; others who play a bit are 4 freshmen: forward Jasmine Hassell, guard Anne Marie Armstrong, guard Candace Williams and forward Ebony Jones.

The Gamecocks will counter with an inside game consisting of freshman center Kelsey Bone, sophomore forward Charenee Stephens and junior forward Jewel May. May played an important role in the road win against Auburn, despite rolling an ankle in a game-day practice and participation being a game-time decision. (she started the game and was there for the finish, as well) Freshman Ashley Bruner can also come off the bench and provide some rebounding and a lot of hustle. Outside, the Gamecocks have junior guard Valerie Nainima, sophomore guard LaKeisha Sutton , junior point guard Samone Kennedy and freshman guard Ieasia Walker contributing solid minutes.  Senior guard Cocoa Falohun also comes in, frequently when defense is the need, and sophomore guard Ebony Wilson is also available.

Tipoff is scheduled for 2 pm at Stegeman Coliseum.