COLUMBIA, SC – Tiara Knotts, one of the smallest players on the court at 5-3, tossed in 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds – both team highs – for South Carolina State in a losing effort as the Lady Bulldogs dropped a 63-44 decision to intrastate rival South Carolina Thursday at the Colonial Life Center.

Knotts, a sophomore, was one of four Lady Bulldog players performing before hometown relatives and friends. One, transfer Fannie Goodwin, was seeing her first action in over a year after becoming eligible just a few days ago. Goodwin, a junior and Texas-El Paso transfer, contributed six points and three rebounds in the contest before fouling out with 1:22 left.

Also playing before a home crowd were senior s Whitney Wiley, who had just one basket, a 3-pointer in the second half before leaving the contest with five fouls with 4:01 on the clock, and Mary Baker who had no points in the contest.

Knotts was followed in the scoring column for the Lady Bulldogs by Tracey Flowers with 10 points and Trinese Fox with seven.

The Lady Bulldogs, who dropped their third consecutive contest, fell to 3-6 on the season. The loss was also the 18th straight to their intrastate rival in a series that the Gamecocks now lead 22-9.

Host USC was led by Valerie Nainima with 12 points, all in the opening half. Marah Strickland and La'Keisha Sutton contributed 10 points each. Charenee Stephens had a game-high 11 rebounds, but just one point, in the victory which lifted the Gamecocks to 8-5 on the season.

The visiting Lady Bulldogs scored the first basket of the contest, a baseline jumper by Fox with 19:23 on t he first-half clock, but USC got the next 17 to build a 17-2 edge when Ashley Bruner, who finished with nine points, got a layup with 11:04 left in the half. The host led 34-16 at the break.

Coach Doug Robertson's team, which was coming off a 10-day holiday break, held USC without a field goal during the first nine minutes of the second half and used a 15-3 run to close the gap to 37-31 on a Fox layup with just under 12 minutes remaining.

Following a timeout, USC got a 3-pointer from reserve Markeshia Grant and an inside basket by Bruner to go up 42-31 with 9:30 on the clock and regain control. After a free throw by SC State's Cherisha Floyd Sutton scored four straight points to put USC ahead 46-32 with 8:16 showing. The Lady Bulldogs could only get to within nine points the rest of the way.

SC State, after trialing by as many 20 points late in the second half and was down 18 at intermission, was outscored just 29-28 in the final 20 minutes by USC.

Robertson, whose team was playing on its second game with the full roster, said he knew the game against the Gamecocks would be a big challenge for his team, however, he noted that he was proud of the effort his team made in getting back in the game in the second half.

“I'm proud of the way we played in the second half,” Robertson said. “We played a pretty Southeastern Conference school pretty even in the second half. We wanted to be competitive and we showed that during most the final period, but it's all about getting wins.

“We were just too inconsistent overall. We made mistakes at the wrong time and put them on the line at the wrong time and just could string together those 8-9 point runs needed to stay them. And, for most of the game, we didn't match their intensity.”

SC State returns to the court Monday when they host Southern Wesleyan in a 7 p.m. contest at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. Robertson's team will then begin conference play Saturday, Jan. 8 when Maryland-Eastern Shore pays a visit, followed by Delaware State Monday, Jan. 10.
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