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Home > SECWB News & More! > NCAA Tournament > Recaps > Gamecocks Fall to the Bulldogs 55-41
Gamecocks Fall to the Bulldogs 55-41
by Marilyn McManus, SECWB.com
Posted: February 28th, 2008 @ 11:27pm
Source: View Box Score
It was Senior Night at the Colonial Center tonight and South Carolina fans turned out to see Lakesha Tolliver, Ilona Burgrova and Ebony Jones play their final home game. Unfortunately, the upbeat ceremony to honor the three seniors was the high point of the night.
The Gamecocks came out fairly strong and put a few stops on Georgia, to take a 8-4 lead at the 14:42 point. Then the Bulldogs went on a 15-2 run and the Gamecocks never really recovered. As has been the case in previous games, this season, the Gamecocks dug themselves into a hole with turnovers (14 in the first half) and cold shooting. The passing was simply horrendous, at times, but the Gamecocks did recover several of their own errant passes or the turnover total could have been doubled. The score was 34-17 at the half.
The Gamecock team played much better in the second half; in fact, they outscored the Bulldogs 24-21 in the second period. They cut their turnovers dramatically, committing only 5 in the second half. The shooting didn’t improve any, but the defense held Georgia to 30% shooting in the second half. It was a strong performance by the Gamecocks, but they weren’t able to run with the Bulldogs, much less outrun them sufficiently to put on a scoring surge.
The crowd, for the most part, remained in their seats and in the game, determined to support the final home effort of the departing seniors. However, the focus of the fans tended to wander. By the end of the game, more attention was being paid to the Pep Band’s efforts to disrupt Georgia free throws than any meaningful action on the court. Each time a shooting foul occurred, 10-15 band members would scurry across 2 sections of seats to position themselves in the general line of sight of the shooter, then jump, wave and scream in an effort to distract her. Well, it was fairly entertaining–somewhat more so than the basketball game. One of the highlights of the second half was when Tasha Humphrey fouled out of the game, even though there were only 20 seconds left in the game. That is the kind of game it was, at least for the Gamecock Nation.
Not that it was a bad game, at least in the second half. It just wasn’t particularly pretty, as it was mainly a furious defensive effort. Holding the Georgia Bulldogs, ranked #20 in the nation, to 55 points is a significant accomplishment.
The Gamecocks were led by the shooting of Brionna Dickerson with 11 points and Ilona Burgrova with 8 points and 4 rebounds. Demetress Adams had only 3 points for the Gamecocks, but led the team in rebounding with 7. Five Gamecocks had 4 rebounds apiece, led by Burgrova. Samone Kennedy played only 17 minutes and was unable to get an assist, but she did have 3 steals to lead the team in that category.
Georgia was led by Angel Robinson with 16 points, Megan Darrah with 13 and Tasha Humphrey with 11 points.( Humphrey’s season average is 17 points per game.) Robinson led the team in rebounding with 9.
The Gamecocks are now 14-14 on the season and look like a lock for the #10 seeding in the Southeastern Conference tournament, which commences next week in Nashville, TN. Their final regular season game is Sunday, when they travel to Kentucky to take on the Wildcats. Tipoff is at 3 pm ET.
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