December 4, 2001

The 23rd-ranked University of South Carolina Lady Gamecocks escaped a close call Tuesday night with a 68-65 victory over the Temple Owls. The win pushes South Carolina’s record to 7-1 on the season and is the best start for the team since the 1988-89 squad began its year on a 9-0 tear.

Down by six points, 53-58, with 5:38 left to play, USC rattled off 11 points in the next three minutes while holding Temple to only four points to take a 59-58 lead. Jocelyn Pen provided seven of the 11 points in the USC run. After Temple tied the game at 60-60 with 1:43 left in the game, South Carolina forced three Temple turnovers while Cristina Ciocan contributed four points to lead South Carolina to victory.

Penn lead the Lady Gamecocks with 16 points while Tatayana Troina connected on all five of her shots for 12 points. Teresa Geter contributed 10 points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots. South Carolina outscored Temple 30-6 in the paint. Normally a team who averages 33.8% from the floor, Temple enjoyed connected on 41.5% of its attempts in the game and 83.3% of its free throws. South Carolina shot 56.7% in the second half but struggled from the charity stripe with 59.1% going through the net.

“I was pleased with the way we handled the adversity tonight,” said Head Coach Susan Walvius. “There’s always added stress with being ranked. And when you play not to lose, you tend to play uptight. Winning close games will build confidence. “We have to rebound better. We’ve done a good job so far this season but didn’t get the job done early tonight.”

The 2-3 Temple Owls came out quickly in the first half and built a six-point lead at 11-5 behind the shooting of guard Natalie Isaac and her seven points. The Owls continued to force turnovers and bad USC shots and pushed its advantage out to 14 points (23-9) with 5:31 left in the first half. South Carolina applied the pressure defense and forced five quick Temple turnovers while Tatyana Troina buried all four of her shots. The 11-5 USC run brought the Lady Gamecocks to within six points at halftime, 28-22 and was the first time that USC had gone into the locker room at halftime without a lead.

South Carolina came out in the second half and took over the game with its hot shooting and defensive play. The Lady Gamecocks built a ten-point cushion at 46-36 on a 22-8 opening run and seemed ready to put the game on ice. Temple fought back and retook the lead at 48-46 behind Stacey Smalls’ seven points but South Carolina was able to pull the game out in the final minute.

South Carolina ends a four-game homestand Saturday with a 2:00 contest against Wofford.