TAMPA, Fla. - Stanford has scored 180 points in its last two NCAA women's basketball tournament games. Tennessee has barely reached triple figures at 100.

Go figure this matchup for the national championship.

Either this is merely a statistical oddity or Tennessee could be the odd team out beginning at 8:30 tonight at the St. Pete Times Forum (TV: ESPN). One way or another, the gap needs to close - and in a hurry.

"The more points they have, the more advantage to them,'' UT senior guard Alberta Auguste said. "But we plan on playing great defense against them."

This plot line likely will prevail over the ripple effect from Stanford's 73-69 overtime victory over the Lady Vols on Dec. 22 in Stanford, Calif. The sense from Monday's press conferences was that the regular-season game amounted to a motivational wash. The Lady Vols can play the revenge angle while the Cardinal can play with confidence, knowing it has beaten UT.

Points versus prevention will be the pitched battle. With that in mind, Auguste has another idea.

"Just want it more than Stanford,'' she said. "Basically that's all there is. Just score more than them and hold (Cardinal All-American) Candice Wiggins to maybe 10 points."

Auguste was laughing when she proposed the latter objective. The rest was no joke, although UT's scoring suggests otherwise.

The defending national champions have picked up right where they left off last year in Cleveland, winning Final Four games while setting records for offensive futility.

Sunday night's 47-46 national semifinal victory over LSU reached back 26 years into the record book. It marked the first time Tennessee (35-2) hadn't scored at least 50 points in any game since a 69-46 national semifinal loss to Louisiana Tech on March 26, 1982.

The 22 first-half points were a season low, as was the 28.6 percent field goal shooting. Yet the Lady Vols stand one victory away from the highest pinnacle.

It's a neat trick, provided it's not upstaged by the opposition. Stanford (35-3) has enough scorers to perform their own magic act. For the tournament, the Cardinal is averaging 85 points per game and shooting 48.4 percent from the floor, including 39 percent from 3-point range.

Wade Trophy winner Wiggins has scored 41-or-more points twice and is averaging 27.4 points per NCAA game.

In Sunday's 82-73 victory over Connecticut, four Stanford players scored in double figures. One of those players was guard JJ Hones, who scored 11. In the first Tennessee game, she scored three points.

"We've got to make shots,'' UT coach Pat Summitt said. "(Against LSU) we were really overanxious offensively. And after watching the tape, I'm even more convinced of that. So we've got to have some composure and be more relaxed offensively."

Jenny Moshak, the Lady Vols assistant athletic director for sports medicine, thinks All-American Candace Parker will be better for having played a game with her ailing left shoulder and understanding her capabilities.

The Cardinal think that they've picked up on a limitation after watching Parker shoot 6 for 27 from the floor against LSU.

"It looked like she was shooting short on all of her left-handed shots, so we'll use that to our advantage,'' freshman forward Kayla Pedersen said. "I think we're going to force her more to the left, and I think I'm going to have a lot of help on defense. But just as long as we can stay physical with her and make her use that left hand then I think she'll miss more shots than usual."

When informed of the scouting report, Parker smiled and said, "Glad I got some insight on what they're planning on doing. And obviously I'm just going to continue to try to play my game, and obviously if I step out on the court, then all's fair."

Whatever the Lady Vols do, they better not forget what they do best. Auguste summed it up by stating her intentions when taking her turn guarding Wiggins.

"I'm going to show her everything,'' Auguste said. "This is my last year. This is my last chance trying to win a national championship, so I'm going to do whatever it takes.

"If I have to follow her to the restroom, I'll follow her. If I have to follow her to a timeout, I will follow her. I'm going to do whatever it takes for us to win this championship."

Pulling that off would be a tough act to top.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.