Women's Basketball Senior Day Victory Over USC

Women’s Basketball Senior Day Victory Over USC

2/26/2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Seniors Nicole Jules and Erica Grimaldi received a cheerful send-off Sunday as the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team defeated South Carolina, 88-71. For the second straight game, five Commodores scored in double-figures, including Jules, who had 13 points in her final regular season game at Memorial Gymnasium.

Junior Carla Thomas and Cherish Stringfield led the Commodores with 15 points apiece, while junior Dee Davis and Caroline Williams each added 14 points to cap off the balanced scoring effort. Davis added 10 assists in the contest, tallying her seventh career double-double.

South Carolina’s Iva Sliskovic led all scorers with 20 points and Melanie Johnson posted a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

The Gamecocks scored the game’s first basket, but would only lead for a total of 57 seconds on the day. Stringfield scored the Commodores’ first six points of the game and Vanderbilt led from the 18-minute mark of the first half.

A 10-0 run near the end of the first half gave the Commodores a 38-24 halftime lead. A defensive struggle in the first half, the game changed in the second half and Vanderbilt tallied its first 50-point half since Dec. 30, 2004 against New Orleans.

Vanderbilt took its largest lead of the game on a 6-0 run to start the second half. The Dores shot 54 percent in the second stanza and made 20-of-22 free throws.

The Commodores had 15 steals in the game, led by Davis’ four, and forced a season-high 29 turnovers from South Carolina.

In the game’s closing minutes, senior captain Erica Grimaldi saw her first action of the conference season. On her Senior Day, she was able to hit a pair of free throws.

Vanderbilt is the No. 6 seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, which will take place this coming week in Little Rock, Ark. The Commodores will open with a game against 11th-seeded Alabama. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:50 p.m. CT and the game will be televised by FSN South.