Halftime talk lights a fire under Lady Vols

OKLAHOMA CITY - Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Ford Center, Pat Summitt let her team know it was time to flip the switch.

Things were getting testy. So was Summitt.

With the exception of All-American Candace Parker, the first half of the Tennessee Lady Vols' Sweet 16 matchup with Notre Dame had been shaky at best. They trailed by eight at one point and were still looking at a two-point deficit at the half.

The flip of the proverbial switch was almost audible in the second half.

Tennessee went on a 17-3 outburst early after a fiery talk from UT's staff and held off the Fighting Irish 74-64 late Sunday night.

"At halftime, Coach was just real with us," senior Nicky Anosike said. "There was no more sugar coating. She just told us we win or we go home and none of us wanted to go home.

"That was really the turning point for us and we felt like we had to come out with fire in the second half."

The Lady Vols (33-2) came out with so much fire, the Irish got singed.

"There was anger because we didn't want to come out and play like this," senior guard Alexis Hornbuckle said. "To be honest, we came out and said we didn't have a good half and guess what? We're down by two.

"It's time to play Tennessee basketball and pick your heads up."

Tennessee moved one victory closer to a Final Four trip to Tampa, Fla., thanks mainly to Parker's 34 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

Others, like Anosike, Hornbuckle, Shannon Bobbitt, Alberta Auguste and Angie Bjorklund, weaved their own late magic into the storyline in the second half.

Anosike finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Bobbitt had 11 points and three 3-pointers - two in the second half.

The halftime speech was the instigator.

"She was definitely intense, but she needed to be," Anosike said of Summitt. "We were out there messing around and we weren't taking it seriously. We needed her to be straight up with us."

No. 2-seed Texas A&M (29-7) is next. The Aggies were a 77-63 winner against No. 3-seed Duke.

Brown's Take: Former Lady Vol assistant coach Al Brown (1996-2002), now on Duke's staff with Joanne P. McCallie, saw enough of the Aggies' defense to last him a while. He still doesn't think it will be an issue for Tennessee.

"Those (A&M) kids played hard, played a good game and certainly took us out of everything we wanted to do," he said. "But they won't be any match for Tennessee.

"They're just not talented enough to play with Tennessee. UT has a great cast of players and then they have the best player (Parker). In basketball, if you have the best player, you're going to win most games. She is so much better than anybody they have, they can't match up with her."

Keep in mind, Brown made those comments before Parker dominated the night against Notre Dame.

Nice Gift: Aggie head coach Gary Blair (former Arkansas coach) was under some heat to provide his wife Dr. Nan Smith-Blair with a memorable birthday present.

"She has to go teach those kids in Arkansas, we've got a commuter marriage right now, but she put a whole lot of pressure on me because she said she needed me to be good enough to be there on her birthday (Tuesday)," Blair said. "We'll see you on Tuesday."

So will No. 3-ranked UT. Game time is 7 p.m.

Orange slices: The Lady Vols hold a 1-0 series advantage against the Aggies, a 105-81 victory Dec. 19, 1997, in the semifinals of the Northern Lights Invitational in Anchorage, Alaska. ... Against Big 12 opponents in the NCAA tournament, UT is 5-0 with the last meeting a 75-59 victory against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight ... Legendary sportswriter and author Dan Jenkins was in attendance with his daughter, author Sally Jenkins.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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