At a glance, Auburn appears ready to hit the court running for the start of the SEC women’s basketball season.

The Tigers are 12-3 and ranked No. 22 by The Associated Press heading into Thursday night's game against No. 2 Tennessee (12-1) at Thompson-Boling Arena (TV: FSN, 7 p.m.).

Auburn’s resume includes impressive road victories at Ohio State and Arizona State. The lineup features 6-foot-4 junior guard DeWanna Bonner, who’s second in the league in scoring (17.3 points per game) and rebounding (10.4 rpg).

Closer inspection, though, reveals a changing of the guard, which has been an untimely cause for pause. Tigers starting point guard Whitney Boddie has been suspended by coach Nell Fortner for academic reasons. The 5-9 junior, who leads the team with 64 assists and averages 10.6 points per game, has missed the last four games and wasn’t expected to make the trip to Knoxville.

Boddie has been replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Alli Smalley.

“I’ve never had this happen,’’ said Fortner, who compared the situation to suddenly losing a player to injury. “I don’t have any previous experience to draw from. Everybody has to step up. Another opportunity opens up for a player.”

The switch has forced the Tigers to throttle back on their pace. The adjustment period has coincided with back-to-back two-point losses to St. Joseph’s and then-No. 20 George Washington.

“We’ve had to change our style a bit with Whitney not playing,’’ Fortner said. “The uptempo style was designed for Whitney Boddie. She (Alli) is going to be a great point guard, but that’s not her style of play.”

There’s never a good time to be shifting gears like this. But the conference opener, on the road against the defending national champions no less, is worse than most.

The Lady Vols are excited to be playing their first home game since Dec. 16 and sufficiently wary of league play.

“I think it’s just the intensity goes up,’’ said Tennessee senior guard Alexis Hornbuckle, noting a discernible difference in SEC games. “It’s night in and night out. In non-conference games, some opponents might fizzle out.

“You have teams playing with so much passion. They really don’t like Tennessee.”

UT coach Pat Summitt believes that the familiarity among SEC teams serves to enhance the competition.

“We’re all in the family now,’’ she said. “Everybody knows the good and the bad.”

Summitt figures the opposition has noticed that Tennessee is ninth in the league in scoring defense (64.4 points per game) and field goal-percentage defense (39.2). Furthermore, the Lady Vols are 10th in defensive rebounds with 25.92 per game.

“We have to shore up our transition defense,’’ Summitt said. “Because we are long and rangy and quick and athletic, if we can get people out of a transition attack and into a halfcourt game, our defense is going to get better.

“That’s where people are attacking us off the dribble, because they’re having a hard time making the passes.”

Summitt said better board play boils down to more players being committed to such fundamentals as boxing out.

“Our defensive board play is weak,’’ Summitt said. “Our offensive board play has really gotten stronger.”

Boddie’s absence also impacts Auburn’s league-leading rebounding margin of plus-9.4. She’s the team’s second-leading rebounder (6.4 per game). Still, there’s Bonner, who presents a matchup challenge.

“She is unique, even in our league,’’ Summitt said. “The skills she has to possess such an effective face-up game and to be able to play off the dribble the way she has is interesting.

“I think back to when I saw her as a high school player, she has really developed and refined her skills.”

Notebook: Hornbuckle has dedicated the rest of the season to her grandmother, who died last month. Hornbuckle has written “Give me strength” on her basketball shoes.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.