Dec. 16, 2002

The 18th ranked South Carolina women’s basketball team improved to 7-0 with a 65-50 victory over Middle Tennessee Monday night at the Carolina Center in front of 1,261 fans. South Carolina’s Cristina Ciocan led the way for South Carolina by scoring a career high 23 points and pulling down nine boards. Koretha Johnson added 14 while Jocelyn Penn netted 15 points and recorded 8 assists.

South Carolina started slowly by connecting on only 9 of 24 from the field in the first 15 minutes. Middle Tennessee, 3-4, took advantage of the poor Gamecock shooting to take a 28-18 lead with 4:29 remaining in the first half but the Gamecocks would come back by ending the half on a 13-2 run. The run gave South Carolina a 31-30 lead heading into the locker room.

In the second half, the Gamecocks came out where they left off by going on a 17-5 run over the first 7:30. South Carolina shot 55.6% from 3-point land after only going 1 for 5 in the first half. South Carolina also took advantage of scoring 27 points off 25 Raider turnovers. The effort gave South Carolina the 65-50 win.

“We picked up our defensive intensity and that picked up the slack from missing lay ups,” said USC Head Coach Susan Walvius. “From the kind of team that we want to be and points off of turnovers have to be something that happens. We are not where we want to be yet but it is a great start.”

South Carolina returns to the Carolina Center on Wednesday at 7pm when they face Louisiana Lafayette.