Dec. 24, 2002

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After dropping its first game of the season last Friday against North Carolina, South Carolina will look to get back on track Friday night against Temple. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. with Mike Morgan calling the play-by-play on WISW Radio (1320 am).

The two teams have only met once before as last year, #23 USC rallied in the last five minutes of the game to take a 68-63 victory in the Carolina Coliseum.

South Carolina opened the 2002-03 season with the best record ever under Head Coach Susan Walvius at 8-0, before falling to North Carolina, 78-69, in the first loss of the season. The team is led by Naismith candidate Jocelyn Penn who earned SEC Player of the Week honors on Monday, December 9th after tying the USC scoring record of 50 points against Wofford. Penn averages 28.1 points per game and is second in the nation (and SEC) in scoring. She has four double-doubles in nine contests and is also averaging 7.9 boards and 4.6 steals per game. With 289 career steals, she is only 10 away from becoming the all-time South Carolina leader in thefts.

Junior Cristina Ciocan is second on the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game. The Gamecock point guard also leads the team in assists with an average of 7.4 per game. She is second in the SEC in assists and has two double-assist games already this season.

Petra Ujhelyi leads the team in rebounding with 11.0 rebounds per contest. The senior post player is first in the SEC and eighth in the nation with that double-figure average. Ujhelyi is third in scoring contributing 10.8 points per game and has five double-double games in the first nine USC contests.

Temple enters the contest with a 4-5 mark and is on a four-game losing streak since defeating Princeton on November 30th. The Owls are 2-1 at home with four of the five losses coming on the road or at a neutral site. The Owls are led by three players who average in double figures; Khadija Bowens (12.6), Stacey Smalls (11.3) and Candice Dupree (11.1). Dupree paces the team with an average of 6.6 rebounds per game.

The teams share one common opponent so far this season; Boston College. Temple lost at Boston College, 69-62, on December 7th while South Carolina defeated the Eagles, 54-51, in the finals of the Paradise Jam Tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands.