The University of South Carolina Showdown
12/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2008
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. - For the first time, the University of South Carolina's two Division I four-year institutions will meet in women's basketball on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Colonial Life Center, with both programs in full flux of a multitude of changes. While the Upstate campus' team is still in the midst of its Division I transition, the Gamecocks are adjusting to a new coaching staff, with Dawn Staley in her first year in Columbia.
Upstate (4-2 overall) will look for its first win against a BCS-conference team and snap a two-game skid. The Spartans are one of the nation's top scoring teams, entering the week of Dec. 2 ranked 16th in the nation in scoring, led in part by freshman Kendra Wallace, who entered the week ranked 15th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage. Although the team scored just 63 points against Kennesaw State on Saturday, the Spartans are still averaging 75.7 points per game.
South Carolina (4-3 overall), meanwhile, is ranked 17th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 52.7 points per game. The Gamecocks are led by Demetress Adams, who averages 10.3 points and 9.1 rebounds a game.
Notes
• This is the second in a four-game, seven-day stretch for the Spartans.
• Upstate currently leads the A-Sun and entered the week 16th nationally in scoring, averaging 75.7 points per game.
• Upstate also leads the conference and nation in 3-point field goal percentage, hitting 47.7 percent (41-for-86) through its first six games.
• Freshmen Kendra Wallace and Lesley Daniel have each hit at least one 3-pointer in each of the last five games.
• Senior Ebony Johnson needs six rebounds to become the 15th player at Upstate with 400 in a career.
• Senior Courtney Bradley is one assist shy of the school's NCAA-era assists record of 335 set by Angelina Gordon from 1994-97.
• Junior Courtney Hawkins, sophomore Chelsea McMillan and freshman Kendra Wallace have each scored in double digits four times this season.
• Ten Spartans are currently averaging double figures in minutes. Only one (freshman Kendra Wallace) averages 30 minutes and four average 20 minutes per game.
Triple Trifection
After shooting .248 from downtown in 2007-08, the Spartans have started out sizzling from long-range this season, hitting 48 percent (41-for-86) through their first six games. In fact, the Spartans are so hot from long-range that they have the top 3-point field goal percentage in Division I. However, the team is not eligible to be listed amongst the nation's leaders while it is reclassifying to Division I.
The team features the top three long-distance specialists in the conference, with junior Courtney Hawkins leading the conference with a .700 3-point field goal percentage (7-for-10). She is followed by both freshmen Lesley Daniel (.600/9-for-15) and Kendra Wallace (.485/16-for-33) in the second and third positions, respectively.
Offensive Momentum
The Spartans' offense is starting to turn heads nationally, as the team, which averages 75.7 points per game, entered the week ranked amongst Division I leaders in seven statistical categories. The rankings, released before Upstate's 80-63 loss to Kennesaw State on Dec. 13, showed the Spartans 16th in the nation in scoring offense (78.2), 37th in scoring margin (+14.4), 41st in field goal percentage (.447), 50th in 3-point field goals made (33), 1st in 3-point field goal percentage (.485), 46th in assists per game (15.8) and 35th in steals per game (11.8).
New Faces Downtown
Twenty-six of USC Upstate's 41 3-pointers (63 percent) this season have been hit by freshmen. Three-point specialists in high school, Lesley Daniel has connected on nine trifectas and Kendra Wallace has hit 16 from downtown. Daniel, who entered the starting lineup for the first time at Kennesaw State, has averaged 21.5 minutes per game, averaging 8.8 points, 2.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game. Wallace, a starting No. 2 guard, leads the Spartans with an average of 30.8 minutes per game while averaging 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
A Look At The Record Book
Senior Courtney Bradley has her eyes firmly squared on leaving a lasting mark on the Upstate career record book after a three-assist effort in a season-high 22 minutes at Mercer on Dec. 3. The 5-5 point guard is third in school history with 334 assists, just one shy of Angelina Gordon's mark of 335 set from 1994-97. Gordon's 335 assists are the school's NCAA-era record, as the school's all-time leader, Suzanne Graham, played when the school was a member of the NAIA.
Bradley's 107 career 3-pointers is just 15 shy of Dawn Bowden's third-best mark set from 1985-89. Her 550 career points are also just nine outside the school's top 25.
Fresh Buckets
Through the first six games of the season, Upstate's top-scoring offense in the A-Sun has been led by its freshmen. The trio of Lesley Daniel, Chelsey Peterson and Kendra Wallace are averaging a combined 27.3 points per game, more than any of other academic class. The trio is also the most productive class per player, as the two juniors average 7.9 points each while the freshman have averaged 9.1 points per game per player.
Daniel, a 3-point specialist and a back-up point guard, is averaging 8.8 points per game. Peterson, an athletic forward that has moved right into the post rotation, is averaging 5.7 points per game and Wallace, another 3-point specialist, is averaging 12.8 points per game.
