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South Carolina is off to its best start

At first glance, it doesn't seem like much has changed, particularly among the nation's Top 10 teams. Undefeated Connecticut sits atop the poll -- yet again. And Tennessee follows at No.2.

Big surprise, right?

But there are a few up-and-coming teams making names for themselves, albeit quietly.

Two are from the SEC, Vanderbilt and South Carolina.

While Vanderbilt is a former perennial contender that has made its way back, South Carolina is a different story.

South Carolina is ranked in the Top 10 of both polls (No.8) for the first time in 20 years. The Gamecocks haven't been this high since 1981-82. South Carolina's rise has been aided by three players, all averaging double figures. Jocelyn Penn (17.4), Shaun Gortman (15.1) and former Tennessee forward Teresa Geter (10.0) are the cornerstone of a squad that has defeated Duke (No.7 at the time) and North Carolina (No.16). South Carolina also knocked off Vanderbilt, No.6 at the time.

In her fifth season, Susan Walvius has the Gamecocks off to their best start and opened the SEC season 3-0 for the first time. Last season, they won a school-record six SEC games and tied for sixth, their highest finish.

Despite a 80-61 loss to Tennessee on Thursday -- in front of South Carolina's first sellout -- Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said she is impressed. "The success that South Carolina has had this year speaks volumes about Susan and her staff," Summitt said. "This is not a league that I would want to enter as a young coach and think that I could immediately move to the top of the league.

"She has gone out and gotten top players, both internationally and close to home, which would impact the program. To do what she has done this year in this league, you have to stop and respect that." BUTLER OUT: The stormy relationship between Georgia Tech guard Niesha Butler and coach Agnus Berenato has ended. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported Butler quit the team Monday after several conflicts with Berenato.

The ACC rookie of the year in 1999, Butler missed all of last season with a torn ACL. She and Berenato often clashed, and she was suspended three times and sat out the fall semester for academic reasons.

Butler is the all-time prep scoring leader in New York City and scored 1,059 points during her career at Georgia Tech. This season, she had been relegated to the final player off the bench.

MAZZANTE HONORED: Penn State sophomore Kelly Mazzante is the Women's Basketball Coaches Association national player of the month for December and last week's Big Ten player of the week.

She broke a Big Ten record with 1,000 points in just 47 games, breaking the mark of 52 by Ohio State's Katie Smith.

Mazzante is the nation's leading scorer with 26.6 points per game and had an eight-game stretch in which she averaged 30.5 points and shot 49.4 percent from the field.

Mazzante tied the league's single-game scoring record and set a mark for Big Ten games when she scored 49 in a victory over Minnesota on Dec.29. The points also were a Penn State single-game record (men's and women's).

- Antonya English covers women's college basketball. She can be reached at

english@sptimes.com. or (813) 226-3389.

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