January 3, 2002
The start of SEC play was the only thing that changed at Carolina Coliseum Thursday night as No. 14 South Carolina treated conference foe and No. 6 Vanderbilt just like its non-conference opponents. Jocelyn Penn scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Lady Gamecocks won a sixth consecutive game in double-digits, blowing out the Commodores 71-52 in the SEC opener for both teams. Point guard Cristina Ciocan, the SEC leader in assists, tied a USC school record with a career-high 14 assists in the game, against only one turnover.
South Carolina, now 13-1 overall and 1-0 in the SEC, is off to its best start in school history. USC’s win also protects its winning streak, now at nine games. Vanderbilt, losers in two of their last three games after an 11-1 start, fall to 12-3 overall and 0-1 in the SEC.
Coming out of the gate with an intensity level that Vanderbilt could not match, the Lady Gamecocks sprinted to a double-digit lead in the game’s first eight minutes – a lead they would never relinquish. Vanderbilt’s Ashley Earley hit a free throw with 15:20 to play in the first half, cutting the USC lead to 7-6. Over the next 7:47, Carolina outscored the Commodores 18-2 to essentially put the game away.
Penn scored six points in the run, all on fast break lay-ups. USC guard Cristina Ciocan dished out two of her 14 assists to Penn during the run. USC also got a key bucket from Tatyana Troina to maintain the game-changing rally. Troina hit a long three from the right corner between Penn’s first and second breakaway lay-up. Troina ended with eight points and four rebounds in 21 solid minutes off the bench. Carolina’s tough defense forced 15 Vanderbilt turnovers, and on the game USC scored 25 points off Commodore errors. Ciocan forced the tempo and the Commodores were unable to keep pace.
“It was a great defensive effort by our team tonight,” said winning head coach Susan Walvius. ” Our defense forced [Vanderbilt] to turn the ball over.”
Shaun Gortman added 15 points and five rebounds for South Carolina. The senior from Columbia was 6-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-6 from behind the three-point arc. Kelly Morrone added 11 off the bench.
The Commodores made just one run at USC in the second half, trimming the margin to 12 points when Early hit a 10-foot jumper at 7:46 to play, making the score 52-40. The threat took on greater significance as Carolina’s Penn picked up her fourth foul with 9:18 to play, forcing her to the bench.
But USC picked up for Penn in her absence, reeling off a 14-4 run over the next 4:31, stretching its lead to a game-high 23 at one point. Petra Ujhelyi scored her only four points of the game on lay-ups and Gortman nailed two long jumpers, one just inside the three-point arc, to pull away for good.
Vanderbilt leading scorer Chantelle Anderson, plagued by foul trouble and swarming interior defense from USC’s Petra Ujhelyi, scored just three points in 23 minutes, 18 points below her season average of 20.9 points per game.
“Petra did a great job on her today,” added Walvius. “We knew we had to shoot the ball well,” said Walvius. “We were poised offensively and we got good shots.”
On the game, USC shot 53.6% from the floor, including a red-hot10-of-22 from three-point range against the Vanderbilt zone.
Vanderbilt lead just once during the game, 3-0 after Ashley McElhiney hit a long three from the top of the key in the game’s opening minute.
