Feb. 17, 2008
AUBURN, Ala. – South Carolina dropped an 83-72 outing at Auburn this afternoon, as the Tigers (18-7, 6-4 SEC) capitalized on a spate of Gamecock fouls to hit 29-of-38 from the free throw line. Demetress Adams netted a season-high 17 points for South Carolina (13-12, 2-8 SEC), all but four of which came in the second half.
The teams battled back and forth through most of the first half before Auburn surged to a 29-18 lead with just under five minutes to play, courtesy of an8-0 run over a three-minute span. Dewanna Bonner hit a pair of free throws to start the run, but points came from all corners in the spurt. Jordan Greenleaf added another free throw, and Sherell Hobbs floated in a layup off a steal. Alli Smalley capped the run with a 3-pointer from the left wing.
Ebony Jones ended the run with a 3-pointer at the right wing, and, following a Greenleaf jumper, the Gamecocks went on a 6-0 run to narrow the gap to 27-31 with two minutes remaining. Adams did a bulk of the damage with a free throw to kicked things off and a steal at half court, which she drove home for a layup to pull the Gamecocks within four. Greenleaf stemmed the tide with a shot-clock beating 3-point from the right wing, which Jordan Jones answered with her first 3-pointer of the game for a 30-34 South Carolina deficit. In the final minute, the teams again traded 3-pointers, with Ebony Jones sinking her second of the game from the right wing just before time expired, sending the Gamecocks to the locker trailing just 37-33.
Lakesha Tolliver opened the second half with a strong move on the left block to pull South Carolina within two right out of the block. McCorvey and Hobbs combined to push the Tigers up seven at 16:44 with back-to-back buckets. Adams and Jordan Jones combined to bring the Gamecocks back to 41-44 with 15:18 on the clock, but the Tigers took advantage of fouls and missed shots to put together a 9-2 run and expand their lead to 53-43.
Adams and Jordan Jones were consistent for the Gamecocks, but the Tigers continued to ride the free-throw shooting of Bonner and maintained a nine-point edge with 7:39 left in the half. The steady trips to the stripe not only added points for the Tigers, but it forced Adams, Jones and Tolliver all to the bench with four fouls apiece.
Ilona Burgrova took up the offensive banner for the Gamecocks, scoring seven straight points to pull South Carolina within seven 63-70 with 3:19 left in the game. It was as close at the Gamecocks would get, however, as Auburn took advantage of 24 trips to the free-throw line, hitting 19 of those shots to collect the victory.
The Gamecocks out-shot the Tigers 49.2 percent to 45.3 percent, but took just 15 free throws to Auburn’s 38 attempts in the game. Adams led the offense with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Jordan Jones and Burgrova joined her in double-figure points with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Three of Auburn’s started finished with 18 points – Smalley, Hobbs and Bonner. Of that total for Bonner, 12 came at the free throw line as she hit just 3-of-13 from the field, but added 12 rebounds to her outing.
South Carolina returns to the Colonial Center on Thu., Feb. 21, to take on Mississippi State at 7 p.m.
