Jan. 28, 2007

Recap | Box Score | Quotes

:: South Carolina claimed a 66-56 win over Kentucky Sunday.

:: Sunday’s win marked the Gamecocks’ sixth win in their last eight games played against Kentucky in Columbia and improved Carolina’s record to 11-6 all-time in games played against Kentucky in Columbia.

:: With Sunday’s win, the Gamecocks improved to 12-3 at home this season.

:: The Gamecocks snapped a three-game losing skid to Kentucky with Sunday’s win.

:: Lauren Simms entered Sunday’s game just 13 points shy of the 1,000 point mark for her career. She scored two points Sunday to increase her career total to 989 points.

:: Iva Sliskovic grabbed two defensive rebounds Sunday. In doing so, she passed Jocelyn Penn (458 defensive rebounds from 1998-2003) to take sole possession of second place on Carolina’s career defensive rebounds list. Sliskovic has now grabbed 459 defensive rebounds in her career.

:: Sliskovic scored six points Sunday. She needs 65 points to hit the 1,000-point mark for her career.

:: Melanie Johnson posted her second consecutive double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds Sunday. Johnson scored 22 points and collected 12 rebounds in Carolina’s 79-51 win over Florida last game. Johnson has posted three double-doubles this season and has 15 double-doubles in her career.

:: Lakesha Tolliver blocked two shots Sunday, marking her 15^th consecutive game with a blocked shot and the 11^th time in the last 12 games that she has blocked more than one shot.

:: Johnson fueled an 11-3 Carolina run midway through the second half that turned a 41-41 tie into a 52-44 Gamecock advantage. Johnson scored seven of Carolina’s 11 points during that stretch.

:: South Carolina took a 28-26 lead into the locker room at halftime. Including Sunday’s game, Carolina is 12-1 this year when leading at the half.

:: The Gamecocks went on a 10-2 run midway through the first half to take a 11-10 lead and turn it into a 21-12 advantage, but Kentucky answered with a 14-7 run to trim the margin to 28-26 at the half.

:: Sunday’s announced crowd of 2,484 marked the second-largest home crowd of the year for the Gamecocks. Carolina’s largest home crowd was 2,568 against Alabama on Jan. 14.

:: The Gamecocks came into Sunday’s game ranking in the top 25 nationally in rebounding margin (6^th; +10.8), steals (7^th; 13.00 per game), blocked shots (13^th; 5.8 per game), scoring margin (17^th; +15.9) and scoring defense (24^th; 56.0 ppg).

:: Sunday’s game was a rematch of an earlier meeting in Lexington this season, which Kentucky won by a 59-55 score. Kentucky and South Carolina face each other in a home-and-home series every year.

:: South Carolina played Sunday’s game without the services of senior guard Lea Fabbri, who missed her fourth consecutive game with a sprained right ankle. Fabbri is doubtful for Thursday’s game at Tennessee.

:: South Carolina returns to action when it travels to Knoxville for a Thursday night battle with Tennessee. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.