March 25, 2002

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Making its first appearance ever in the NCAA Elite Eight, South Carolina gave top-seed Duke a run for the FInal Four but finished nine points short of a visit to San Antonio, 77-68.

Senior Shaunzinski Gortman led the Gamecocks with 17 points while junior Jocelyn Penn added 14 points and nine rebounds. Alana Beard paced Duke with 24 points.

Duke visited the free throw line 24 times during the game while South Carolina made it to the charity stripe only six times. Gortman was the only USC player to shoot free throws and the Columbia-native sank four of the six opportunities. Duke was whistled for only nine personal fouls while South Carolina was saddled with 20 violations.

After being down by 13 points at halftime, the South Carolina Gamecocks battled back in the second half and took the lead on a 23-10 run with just under 10:00 left in the game. During USC’s run, Shaun Gortman contributed eight points while Jocelyn Penn provided six more.

The Gamecocks used several zone and trapping defenses to slow Duke’s offense. They scored nine unanswered points to tie the game at 42 and eventually take a 46-45 lead on a layup by Jocelyn Penn with 9:54 to play.

Duke’s Alana Beard answered Penn’s layup with a three-point play and two free throws for a 50-46 lead with 9:03 left. After a hanging jumper by Currie, Beard found reserve Krista Gingrich on the wing for a 3-pointer and a 55-49 lead. South Carolina didn’t get closer than five the rest of the way as Duke scored on 10 of its next 11 possessions after South Carolina took the lead.

Third-seeded South Carolina scored the game’s first eight points and forced the East’s top seed into taking a quick time-out to get settled.

“That’s experience and toughness on their part,” South Carolina coach Susan Walvius said. “They were fantastic today. They had an answer to everything we threw at them.”

Shaunzinski Gortman and Jocelyn Penn were named to the All-East Region Team.

South Carolina finished the season with a 25-7 record, the third-best mark in school history.