January 22, 2002
Jocelyn Penn scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds as No. 8 South Carolina held visiting Kentucky to its lowest point total of the season en route to the Lady Gamecocks’ 78-49 victory Sunday afternoon at the Carolina Coliseum.
The win for South Carolina (17-2, 5-1 SEC) is their largest in terms of margin of victory in any SEC game ever, breaking the previous high of 25 points recorded earlier this year over Arkansas.
The Lady Gamecocks led for all but 1:56 of the game, holding their third opponent of the season to fewer than 50 points.
Carolina, leading 26-15 at the 7:28 mark of the first half, reeled off a 21-4 run spanning the game’s next 8:51 to send the Wildcats tumbling to 8-10, 1-5 SEC.
Teresa Geter scored four of her six points during the run, working the post for two easy looks. Reserve Ines Ajanovic also chipped in four points during the spurt, keying a 20-2 USC advantage in bench points during the first half.
Kelly Morrone added six points while Tatyana Troina led all Lady Gamecock reserves with 11.
“I thought we did a good job,” said USC head coach Susan Walvius. “The intensity was there and we got a chance to play a lot of players and show what they can do.”
Twelve Lady Gamecocks played in the contest, as 11 entered the scoring column. Only five Kentucky players scored in the lop sided game.
Carolina ran its lead to as much as 35 late in the second half at 73-38 with 6:36 to play. A relentless Lady Gamecock defense held Kentucky, just the league’s 11th ranked scoring team, to a paltry 39% shooting from the floor (20-of-51) and an even lower 30% on three-point shooting (3-of-10).
Meanwhile, USC shot an efficient 53% on 32-of-60 and 44% from behind the three-point arc.
Rita Adams scored 18 points to lead Kentucky while UK’s SeSe Helm recorded a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
South Carolina, which drew a record sellout crowd of 12, 168 Thursday night for their showdown with Tennessee, played before 5, 227 Sunday, the fourth largest crowd in Lady Gamecock history.
