November 26, 2001
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) – Kelly Morrone scored a career-high 27 points, and Shaunzinski Gortman had 11 of her 25 points in overtime as South Carolina upset No. 9 Duke 87-81 in the championship game of the Duke Women’s Basketball Classic Sunday. South Carolina handed Duke its first home loss to a non conference opponent since falling 77-70 to Boston College in the preseason WNIT on Nov. 17, 1999.
Jocelyn Penn scored 15 points for South Carolina (4-0), which became the first team in 10 years other than the Blue Devils to win the tournament. Morrone and Gortman were named to the All-Tournament with Gortman named as the Most Valuable Player.
Morrone scored all of her points in regulation, shooting 8-for-8 from 3-point range before missing her only attempt in overtime. The sophomore from Syracuse, New York, missed tying the South Carolina team record of three-pointers in a game of nine (Shannon Johnson)
“I’m really proud of our team,” said USC Head Coach Susan Walvius. “We came out there and we had the mentality that we would fight for 40 minutes and we fought for 45 minutes. We came out with the win. I didn’t think it was always pretty and we got a little careless with the ball, but we fought hard.
“We were determined not to be motivated offensively tonight. Instead we wanted to be motivated defensively. For the most part we got our defensive part done and that is why we won the game.”
Other than a 7-6 Duke lead two minutes into the game, South Carolina controlled the game from beginning to end as the Lady Gamecocks built leads as large as 12 in the first half behind the four three-pointers from Kelly Morrone. Concentrating on its defense to fuel the offense, USC pressure into nine early turnovers and held the Blue Devils to only 10-of-29 (34.5%) field goals. South Carolina enjoyed a 35-26 lead at intermission.
South Carolina increased the lead to 41-30 in the first three minutes of the second half. But Duke closed to 56-53 with 9 minutes to go. Six points from reserve Monique Currie pulled Duke even with South Carolina and the Blue Devils took the lead with Currie’s free throw, 70-69, with 1:20 left to play. Duke stretched its only lead to three points, 72-69, behind Alana Beard’s two free throws but Kelly Morrone tied the game at 72 with a crucial three-point shot with only 21 seconds left to play. Both teams had opportunities to win the game before overtime but missed shots. The teams went into overtime tied at 72.
Beard scored on a baseline jumper to give Duke a 76-74 lead with 3:37 left in overtime. Duke turned the ball over in its next three possessions, and Gortman scored five unanswered points to put South Carolina ahead for good.
After the game, the two USC All-Tournament Players had the following thoughts: Kelly Morrone – “I think we are a team that is rising to challenges this year. That’s what we are all about. For us to come in and get a win, that gives us all the confidence in the world to take the next step.”
Shaun Gortman: “Coming into this game we were all motivated to play defensively. I was thinking that if I could play well defensively then my offense would come and we would win the game.
South Carolina returns to action Wednesday night at Clemson. Game time is 7:00 p.m.
