Brewer feeling relieved about near-miss

Tennessee's Alyssia Brewer saw her women's basketball season flash before her eyes when she narrowly escaped a serious knee injury in Thursday's game against Old Dominion.

"Oh my gosh, in my mind I was freaking out,'' the freshman forward said. "I was like, 'No, this cannot be happening.' "

When Jenny Moshak, the Lady Vols associate athletic director for sports medicine, said that they were going to the locker room the feeling got worse.

"Those words just completely hit me,'' Brewer said, and I was like 'No, no, no, no.' "

Brewer watched her second-half tumble to the court on video and came to the same conclusion as everyone else.

"I was lucky to get out of that,'' said Brewer, who has some lingering soreness. "I truly was."

Tough Test: Tennessee forward Vicki Baugh realized her surgically repaired left knee was doing fine this fall when she had to chase down Max, the two-year-old Miniature Pinscher/rat terrier mix that she adopted from Adopt-A-Pet in Bearden.

"I was in an apartment complex,'' Baugh said. "...I had to chase him to save his life because there are some dangerous roads around there.

"I was having to cut, weave, pivot dodge, all of the above to catch this dog and I finally caught him after about six minutes of straight running, full speed I might add. I caught him and that's when I knew that I could run on the court and my knee was fine."

Baugh suffered her knee injury last April in the national championship game against Stanford.

Dial It Up: UT coach Pat Summitt has asked first-year assistant Daedra Charles-Furlow to turn up her volume with UT's young team.

"I told her you have to get your volume up," Summitt said. "I want you talking and encouraging. I think that you can have an impact on these young players because they see her as a great player.

"She's responded well."

Injury Report: Tennessee guard Cait McMahan (sore knee) is out for tonight's game against Stanford.

Stanford guard JJ Hones is out for the season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Forward Jillian Harmon missed Friday's game at South Carolina with a sprained right ankle.

Notebook: Stanford is among the nation's leaders in assists, averaging 17.6 per game. ... In 24 of the 25 meeting between UT and Stanford, at least one of the teams has been ranked in the top five nationally ... Brewer on facing Stanford: "I've probably never played a team as tough as them but I'm ready to take on that challenge."