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Find the hot hand. It's becoming the game within the women's basketball game for Tennessee.

Throwing the basketball to All-American Candace Parker isn't the sole option anymore. Heading into today's SEC game at South Carolina (TV: CSS, 3 p.m.), there's a growing list of shooting candidates to squeeze the trigger.

"I've seen this in the past,'' UT coach Pat Summitt said. "But with this team, I see it even more. There's a lot of offensive confidence because they have a lot of people who can make shots."

Summitt would love to see a similar competition develop around defensive stops, rebounds and consistent play off the bench. In the meantime, No. 2 Tennessee (13-1, 1-0 SEC) is rallying around 47.6 percent field-goal accuracy and the corresponding 82.6 points-per-game scoring average as its prime assets. And they aren't too shabby.

Just ask South Carolina (11-5, 0-1) about the value of making shots. The Gamecocks missed 10 of 12 attempts early in the first half against Alabama, fell behind by 17 points and never recovered in losing 65-54 Thursday night.

The Lady Vols' marksmanship has been on the upswing for more than a month. In most seasons, Thursday's 43.8 percent accuracy against Auburn would've constituted a decent night's work. This season, the total amounted to UT's worst shooting in nine games.

The Lady Vols' 3-point performance is even better. They are among the nation's leaders at 41.3 percent (99 for 240), which also stands as the best in program history. Averaging 7.1 treys per game, the Lady Vols could take aim at the school season record for 3-pointers (232 in 2002-03).

Tennessee's shooting trend coincides with the rise in individual scoring averages. While Parker remains the leader of the pack by a wide margin at 21.3 points per game, Alexis Hornbuckle, Angie Bjorklund and Nicky Anosike are in double figures. Shannon Bobbitt is one hot night away from joining the crowd.

This hardly resembles the same team that beat then-No. 8 Oklahoma, 70-67, on Nov. 15 in Tampa, Fla., with Parker and Bobbitt combining for 55 points.

Therein lies the inspiration behind the search for the hot shooter, which really has heated up in the past three games.

With Parker suspended for the first half against DePaul on Jan. 2, Alex Fuller emerged from the bench with 17 of her career-high 19 points in the first half

Last Saturday at Notre Dame, Bjorklund struck for four 3-pointers before halftime and scored a game-high 21 points.

Against Auburn, Anosike tried to fake out her teammates by missing her first three attempts. Nice try.

She connected on four of her next five shots and had 13 of her career-high 20 points by halftime.

When asked about her relatively quiet seven points against the Tigers, Hornbuckle said, "I didn't need to score. Nicky was doing it.

"If you have somebody on the floor and they're hot. On any given night somebody can score 20."

On another night, that somebody might be Hornbuckle. She's playing her part with a career-best 11.9 points-per-game scoring average and a season high of 25 points against North Carolina on Dec 2.

The career 43.5 percent shooter is hitting at a 51.2 percent clip (66 for 129).

The senior guard's 52.9 percent accuracy (18 for 34) on 3-pointers is a vast improvement over the 31.5 percent shooting behind the arc of her previous three seasons.

"Don't jinx me,'' said Hornbuckle, who attributes her improvement to, "shot selection and playing on balance. Realizing what's a good shot."

And, in turn, eliminating the contortion-like attempts that characterized her younger years.

"It wasn't that I meant to do it,'' she said. "That's just how I played."

Hornbuckle also has changed her thinking about shooting. Rather than wish for a swish, she convinced herself during summer workouts that accuracy was inevitable.

"I made it a point this summer, no matter what was going on, if I miss a few it doesn't matter, the next one's going in,'' Hornbuckle said. "So besides the repetition, it was the mental aspect. I have to think the same, whether I'm shooting behind the arc or just shooting shots."

Some sort of transformation appears to be brewing with Anosike as well. The 6-foot-4 senior center remains capable of turning any shot, even the simplest of attempts, into an adventure. Yet her 47.3 percent accuracy this season is a noticeable upgrade over the 43.4 shooting of her first three seasons.

The player who seemed bewildered on offense just two seasons ago, already has matched her seven double-figure scoring games of last season, stringing together three in a row. As a result, her scoring average has reached 10 points per game.

Against Auburn, she was an aggressive scorer, sizing up defenders and calculating moves to the hoop.

"She was able to freeze them on defense,'' Summitt said. "There were times early on this season that she was rushing and trying to create things. Now she's playing with a lot of composure."

Based on Thursday's effort, Anosike takes the court today as a viable candidate to have the hot hand. She likely will have competition.

Dan Fleser covers University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball. He may be reached at 865-342-6288.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.