South Carolina, Wheeling College and the forgotten game that still dominates the record book

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In South Carolina’s record-breaking start to this season, one game keeps coming up. It’s a 45-year-old game against an opponent most people had never heard of, but it’s there in the record book so it must have happened: South Carolina 137, Wheeling College 34 (January 13, 1979).

The game still holds the program record for points in a game (137), margin of victory (102), points in a first half (75), and field goals made (60).

Who is Wheeling College, why was such a mismatch played, and how did South Carolina score 137 points?

Who?

The “Who?” is easy. A quick Google search answers all the questions. 

Wheeling University is a private university in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was formally known as Wheeling Jesuit University and before that Wheeling College, its original name.  

The Wheeling Cardinals (they are not, as I’d hoped, the “Wheelies”) are a Division II program. They held that same status in 1979, although women’s basketball was sponsored by the AIAW, not the NCAA. The women’s basketball program became something of a conference power in the 1990s and 2000s under coaches Don Hustead and Joe Key, but in 1979 the program was in its fourth season and had won just 12 games total over the first three seasons.

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Why and How?

The “Why?” and “How?” are much harder to track down. In women’s basketball, 1979 may as well be 1879.

Let’s start with the obvious: the South Carolina record book doesn’t include box scores or game recaps. So I have to get creative.

South Carolina’s schedules from the 1970s don’t look much like modern schedules. They were very regional – in 1977-78, South Carolina and College of Charleston played six times – and full of opponents like Vorhees, Claflin, and Benedict – tiny schools that would never show up on a regular season schedule today. And certainly, there were no writers scrutinizing every game on the calendar. 

So playing a program like Wheeling wasn’t unheard of, but why come all the way from West Virginia? There couldn’t have been guarantee games back then. 

In 1979, South Carolina was an emerging power under Pam Parsons. The Gamecocks had a losing record in two of their first three seasons, but Parsons took over and immediately won 24 games. 1978-79 was her second season, and the Gamecocks were on their way to the WNIT championship and would make the AIAW Final Four the next season.

When there are odd games on a schedule, it is often because of a personal relationship. So I checked to see if Parsons had a connection to Wheeling. Nope. (Don’t, by the way, Google Pam Parsons unless you already know why her coaching career ended.)

But a fortuitous Google hit comes to the rescue. South Carolina men’s basketball also played Wheeling College in 1979. A check of the basketball record book confirms they also played on January 13, so the games must have been a package deal. Time to check the papers.

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Fortunately, the University of South Carolina’s digital archives include The Gamecock and the Garnet and Black yearbook (and they are free!). The Richland Library has access to The State archives (again, for free with a library card, which is also free!)

All three sources included descriptions of the Wheeling College game, but none included any details about how the games came to be. The most useful information is from The Gamecock, where I learned that students had just returned to campus a couple of days prior, suggesting this Saturday double-header was a sort of welcome back to the students.

Other than that, there aren’t any archives of newspapers in Wheeling from the 1970s, so I’m at a dead end. I’m satisfied with what I’ve found.

That leaves the “How?” – how did the game become so lopsided?

The 1978-79 roster had a pair of players who still rank among the program greats. Katrina Anderson was a senior and Sheila Foster was a freshman. Foster was South Carolina’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder until her records were broken by A’ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston, respectively. She is still second in both categories.

Anderson only played two seasons, otherwise, she might have the records. Anderson still holds the record for rebounding average in a season (12.8) and in a career (11.3). She is second in career scoring average (20.5) and holds the single-season scoring record (754 points).

The 1978-79 team is still fourth in program history in points per game (79.8), fifth in scoring margin (+18.0), and fourth in field goal percentage (48.9%), while holding the record for field goals made and attempted. That team also hold the record for most points allowed in a season. 

Those statistics paint a picture of a team that wanted to play fast and shoot a lot. That description is backed up by the descriptions of the game.

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Wrote the Garnet and Black:

“Facing tiny Wheeling College later that week, Carolina streaked to a 41-6 lead after ten minutes, and things continued to get worse for the visitors. The final score was an incredible 137-34, despite the fact that Parsons sat her starters down relatively early in the ‘contest.’”

The State described the game as a “blitz over mismatched Wheeling” and said “the hosts were most inhospitable.”

The Gamecock had the most complete game story. “USC’s Lady Gamecocks shocked themselves, the crowd, and especially Wheeling College,” it begins. It goes on to describe South Carolina’s full court press and success forcing turnovers, quoting Parsons as saying, “We weren’t trying to demoralize anyone. We were trying to work on the press.”

The story ends with a preview of the upcoming game at Tennessee, where Parsons thinks if they can control Holly Warlick they have a chance.

I wasn’t able to find a full box score, but The State had the scoring breakdown: Sheila Foster 25, Katrina Anderson 24, Rita Johnson 24, Jaima Oxley 18, Jean Walling 16, Joyce Gilbert 11, Dawn Clark 7, Cynthia Jacobs 4, Cheryl Autry 4, and Suzanne Woolston 4.

It’s an incomplete picture of the game, for sure, but now it’s much more than just a 45-year -old line in the record book.

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