Jan. 6, 2005
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of South Carolina women’s basketball team opened Southeastern Conference play with a 55-48 loss to Mississippi State on Thursday night at the Colonial Center. The Lady Bulldogs ran their win streak to 10 straight games and improved to 11-2 overall, 1-0, while USC slipped to 5-9 and 0-1 in SEC action.
South Carolina played tough defense in the loss, holding MSU to just 24.6 percent shooting, the lowest of any opponent this season and the lowest ever in the Colonial Center by either a Carolina men’s or women’s team, but couldn’t overcome 26 turnovers.
Sophomores Melanie Johnson and Lauren Simms paced the Gamecock scoring effort with 12 points apiece. Simms reached double-figures for the 10th time this season while Johnson bounced back from a two-game scoring slump, and posted her sixth double-digit scoring effort of the year.
Behind a strong defensive effort, South Carolina maintained a lead for the entire first half. After giving up the game’s first basket, the Gamecocks scored nine straight points to jump to a 9-2 lead. The Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to within 9-8 before Carolina reeled off 11 consecutive points to go ahead 20-8. USC suffered a scoring drought, failing to make a basket for the next seven minutes, but weathered the storm and headed into the halftime locker room on top, 25-21.
The Gamecocks limited Mississippi State to just 21.9 percent (7-of-23) shooting in the first 20 minutes and held Tan White, the SEC’s leading scorer at 22 points per game, to just 2-of-9 shooting and six points. USC shot 37 percent (10-of-27) from the field in the first half and was led by Olga Gritsaeva’s six points.
The Lady Bulldogs continued to fight in the second half. MSU tied the game for the first time, 31-31, at the 13:45 mark in second and grabbed its first lead of the game when Doceide Burns drained a three-pointer with 11:51 remaining.
Gritsaeva pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds and Johnson finished with a season-best five blocks. As a team, USC totaled seven blocked shots in tonight’s game to eclipse its average of 6.5, a mark that ranks third nationally.
Tiana Burns led the Lady Bulldogs with 22 points. White totaled 17, and Warren chipped in with 12.
Mississippi State’s seven-point victory marked its largest lead of the game. Carolina will face its first conference road test of the season on Sunday, Jan. 9, when it travels to No. 12/15 Vanderbilt.
