Dec. 20, 2004
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina extended its winning streak to 15 games in contests played against teams from the Big South Conference when it claimed a 66-40 win over Birmingham Southern at the Colonial Center Monday.
With the win, South Carolina improved to 3-6 overall on the year, while Birmingham Southern dipped to 2-5.
As it did against Florida A&M and Jacksonville earlier in the year, South Carolina was able to generate easy baskets in transition. The Gamecocks owned a 14-6 advantage over Birmingham Southern in fast break points, which ended up being one of the key stats of the game. Also, USC matched a Colonial Center record it had already set twice this year by blocking 10 shots in the game. With 61 blocks already this year, the Gamecocks are well on their way toward shattering the existing single-season school record of 115 blocks.
Similar to her performance against Florida A&M, Melanie Johnson was all over the floor, finishing with her third double-double of the year, registering 13 points, 11 rebounds, five steals, five blocks (including an emphatic second-half block of a Stacey Anthony offering) and two assists.
Birmingham Southern hung around by forcing USC to commit a slew of turnovers. The Gamecocks turned the ball over 24 times on Monday. Excessive amounts of turnovers have been a problem for USC lately, with the Gamecocks turning the ball over 24 times Monday, 24 times against both Middle Tennessee last Saturday and against N.C. State last Thursday and 23 times against Florida A&M last Tuesday.
The Gamecocks got out to a 26-19 lead at the end of the first half. Lauren Simms led the way with eight first half points. Stacy Booker added six points and four rebounds in the first half, with Angela Hunter establishing a new career high with six assists in the first half alone. She finished the game with eight assists.
Poor shooting from three-point range continued to plague the Gamecocks, who were a combined 7-for-32 in their last two games against Middle Tennessee and N.C. State, respectively. Carolina drained only one of their nine attempts from deep in the first half and 5-of-21 overall (.238 pct.)
The Gamecocks return to action at 5 p.m. Wednesday when they host South Carolina State at the Colonial Center in the front end of a doubleheader with the USC men’s team, who squares off against South Carolina State immediately after the women.
