Dec. 6, 2006
Some long-distance shooters sense that they’re going to have big games based on how many shots they knock down during warm-ups, but not Gamecocks’ guard Stacy Booker.
“I make a lot of shots before the game and during our shootaround,” said Booker. “But it just depends on how I feel once the game starts.”
It’s safe to say that Booker felt pretty good on Sunday. She came off the bench and hit eight of her 14 attempts for a game-high 19 points (in 23 minutes) as the Gamecocks beat Fordham 77-38 at the Colonial Center. The senior from Lawrenceville, Georgia is already the seventh different player to lead Carolina in scoring this season, joining Demetress Adams (Clemson), Melanie Johnson (East Tennessee State), Lauren Simms (Penn State), Iva Sliskovic (North Carolina State and Lousiana-Lafayette), Lakesha Tolliver (Mercer), and Kellindra Zackery (North Carolina A&T).
Gamecocks head coach Susan Walvius believes that this balance makes them very dangerous: “We’re a hard team for people to guard because you don’t know who to stop. Anyone can step up. Anyone is capable of having a 20 point night.”
The balance not only applies to who the points come from, but where they come from. Booker’s hot performance from the outside on Sunday helped open up Carolina’s inside game, an obvious strength with all of the size on the roster.
“Everybody has been telling me that I am open during a game, but I’ve just been overlooking it,” said Booker. “I’m going to look for my shot more because they’ve been sagging in trying to double team our post players.”
That gameplan will be put to the test Thursday night, when the third ranked and undefeated Oklahoma Sooners come to town. They boast the lane-clogging duo of Courtney and Ashley Paris, who together average 31 points and 22 rebounds a game. Courtney, a Preseason First Team All-American, has put up 34 straight double-doubles.
“It’s a good sign if we’re shooting the ball well,” said forward Iva Sliskovic. “Oklahoma will have to respect that and it will create more space for us down low. We have a strong post game.”
As the Gamecocks continue to prepare for Thursday night’s showdown, Walvius doesn’t want to put any extra pressure on her team. “It’s a win-win situation for us,” she said. “They have everything to lose, we have everything to gain.”
If the Gamecocks are going to pull off the biggest upset in women’s college basketball so far this season, then balance will be the key…in every sense of the word.
