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#24 Vanderbilt Pulls Away From South Carolina, 62-41 3-1-04 3/1/2004 #6 seeded Commodores to face Kentucky in SEC Tournament on Thursday COLUMBIA, S.C. – Carla Thomas scored 20 points and Vanderbilt used a 16-2 run to open the second half and pull away from South Carolina, 62-41, in the regular season finale at the Colonial Center. Thomas hit 10 of 14 shots from the field to lead Vanderbilt (20-7, 8-6 Southeastern Conference) to its fourth straight victory, and the 18th 20-win season in the program’s 27 years. Vanderbilt led by one, 24-23, at the half but used back-to-back jumpers from Hillary Hager and a pair of layups from Thomas to stretch their lead to 33-23 with 16:23 reamining. Vanderbilt shot .533 compared to .259 for USC from the field in the second frame. Turnovers and steals marked the key stat for the game as USC had 25 turnovers to Vanderbilt’s 17 and the Commodores had 16 steals while USC could only manage six. Hillary Hager had 13 points and Abi Ramsey 11 for Vanderbilt, which shot 53 percent in the second half. The Commodores also turned up the defense, getting 16 steals and forcing 25 turnovers by South Carolina. The Gamecocks’ starting backcourt of seniors Kelly Morrone and Cristina Ciocan were a combined 4-for-20 from the field for 12 points, less than half their average of nearly 25 points a game. Carolina kept the game close in the first half in a low scoring affair as both teams only combined for 47 points. The first half witnessed two ties and two lead changes and the largest lead Vandy could muster was seven points at the 10:20 mark. This was caused by a stingy Carolina defense that kept Vandy’s shooting percentage at .300 for the half. VU only shot 1-9 from three-point range but shot .833 from the free throw line while Carolina was 0-7 from downtown and hit .600 from the line. The Commodores had a five point lead at the 7:18 mark (18-12), but Carolina took the lead with a 6-0 run over a four-minute time span. Two Ashley Earley free throws brought the lead back to the Dores but Sliskovic tied the game again with two free throws of her own. Earley went 1-for-2 from the line with 16 seconds remaining in the half to give the Commodores a one-point lead at the half. Vanderbilt shot .417 from the field throughout the game while South Carolina shot .269 for the afternoon. The Black and Gold outscored Carolina in the paint 40-20 and topped USC in second chance points, 22-17. Vanderbilt will be back in action on Thursday when it opens play at the SEC Tournament in Nashville. Vanderbilt will open the tourney as the No. 6 seed and will face No. 11 Kentucky in the first round at 8:30 pm CT. |
