A full complement of women's basketball players made a big difference for Tennessee on Sunday afternoon.
Center Kelley Cain's towering presence alone was a game-changer. Add Angie Bjorklund's first appearance along with some other individual efforts and DePaul was outnumbered.
Every Lady Vol had a hand in an 88-67 victory over the Blue Demons before a crowd of 13,190 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Glory Johnson led No. 9 Tennessee (5-1) with 19 points. Shekinna Stricklen scored 16 and Cain added 12.
Sam Quigley led three double-figure scorers with 15 for DePaul (5-2).
"This is still Tennessee,'' said Blue Demons coach Doug Bruno, who already was making NCAA tournament projections. "I told the team afterwards that I would be shocked if they were not at least a two seed. The games have to be played so we'll see what happens. But given the level of coaching they are going to receive from Coach (Pat) Summitt and her staff, I would expect them to be a one or two seed."
This finally was Tennessee after the trainer's room emptied. Cain and teammate Alicia Manning returned from concussions while Bjorklund was back after being sidelined with a bulging disc in her lower back.
"It's good that our team is finally healthy,'' Johnson said.
With a dozen players at her disposal, Summitt was in a Christmas-like mood with the playing minutes. Everyone received at least 10.
The generosity had its benefits. Every Lady Vol contributed at least one rebound to a decisive 56-37 advantage. Five players had six or more rebounds led by Vicki Baugh's nine. Bjorklund had seven, one short of her career high.
The disparity was achieved against a DePaul team that's averaging nearly 6-foot-3 across its front line and had a plus-11.6 rebounding margin.
"First of all, you can talk about rebounding and then you can get schooled in what it means to rebound the basketball,'' Bruno said. "The problem was that it took us until the first media timeout to get our first defensive rebound."
On the flip side, the Lady Vols had trouble sustaining their effort in the first half. DePaul whittled an 18-point deficit to six before UT recovered for a 44-34 lead at the break.
"With the exception of not closing out the first half, I was pleased, and I blame myself for that because we were playing a lot of people,'' Summitt said.
Tennessee was at its best in building a 68-43 lead in the first 10-plus minutes of the second half. Cain, the 6-6 redshirt freshman, scored five of her points during this stretch and played 11 of her 14 minutes after halftime in her first game since Nov. 17 versus Virginia.
"I know I'm not in as good of shape as I need to be and Coach wants me to be,'' Cain said. "It just have to take the time that she gave me out there and give it my all."
Other than her 2-for-7 free-throw shooting, Cain's skills appeared to be in fine form.
"She keeps the ball up and uses the glass; a lot of posts now don't do that,'' Summitt said. "There's a big difference between her and Vicki and Glory. They use their athleticism and quickness. She uses her size."
Stricklen put her 6-2 wingspan to good use in guarding DePaul's Deirdre Naughton. The Blue Demons guard scored 14 points, nearly five below her team-leading 19.8 average, and shot 3-for-18 from the floor.
"She's a long athletic player, which is something that we haven't really experienced this season,'' Naughton said. "She definitely altered a lot of my shots."
Even the smallest Lady Vols played big. Briana Bass, a 5-2 freshman, recorded eight assists, four of which came during the decisive scoring run to start the second half.
"She pushes me,'' Johnson said of Bass. "It's great to have someone who is so little who can push you so much."
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Comments » 13
xvolx writes:
Ijust watched uconn play. we're playing for second.
ps11824 writes:
Pat Summitt NEVER plays for 2nd!!!!!!!!!!!
UConn may be good. I'm sure they are. They always are. That has absolutely nothing to do with the Lady Vols. Thank goodness they are not on our schedule for more reasons than I want to comment on. By the time we could face them, who knows what; who cares what they are? I care about the Baby Vols. We won today. We improved today. We got some players back on the court today. Pat was pretty happy with our performance today. So am I.
houvol#438636 writes:
Come March, this team will be ready for anyone.
LadyVolFanForever writes:
Now we are starting to take shape ! It was so great to see Angie back on the court and I was very impressed with her leadership out there !! Finally, all 12 are available.
We should improve each week and the competition will get stronger each week. Our coaching staff is doing a great job and the players are starting to respond.
Go Lady Vols !
andefromtn#212139 writes:
Solid win for the Lady Vols and a great stepping stone for rest of the season. Coach used the game to try different combinations on the court and allow players to get game time experience; this will be to the team's benefit in close games and in March.
The difference in UT and UConn, at this point, is depth. UConn does not have it. In their game yesterday they played 4 of 5 starter 30 minutes or more. Their bench scored on 11 points. Geno did not take a perfect opportunity to get playing experience for his bench, instead he ran up the score. The only reason not to play your bench when you are up by 30 is you don't have depth!
UT spread the playing time around and it will pay off in close games because the fall off from starters to bench will be small. If injuries hit UConn, who is going to step up for them? What about foul trouble? In UT's case you have depth, granted it's young players, but Pat is making sure they are get playing time and developing on the court. Come March the Lady Vols will be ready to handle the task at hand.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Has Pat let her membership in the PRA lapse?
(Pine Riders Assoc)
rockytopron writes:
Another good win for the Lady Vols. Gaining experience and confidence.
PS - UConn looked good last night in beating a good Oklahoma team. However, given the circumstances thats expected. OKie didn't play defense, Courtney Paris is out of shape, it was a home game on UConn TV, and they shot the lights out which want happen every game.
The Final four will be different. Ucan't will not win this year to cheating geno's dismay.
ps11824 writes:
I find the 2 previous comments very interesting. Pat said on the pre-game radio show "I don't plan to substitute so freely as we have in the last 3 games." Coach said she wanted to narrow down to 8 or so. I suppose she has liberty to change her plans, doesn't she?
I did not see the game. I heard the first part of the first half and it sounded like Baugh just got off to a blazing start. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised when I checked back near the end of the game when the Baby Vols held a double-digit lead.
Can you tell me if Bjorkland ever found her stroke? The stat line doesn't tell me much. What, one of 4 from behind the arc? If she can get back in the groove with her 3, do you realize what a threat we can become? Pat also implied to Mickey Dearstone that the only other starter with the green light to shoot the 3 is Stricklen. She told him she had sent the message that everybody would not be throwing up the long ball as they did in Chattanooga. That instead they were to get the ball inside and use the outside shot effectively.
I was happy to see the board game was so much in our favor. Overall it was an improvement in execution of Pat's game plan we can be pleased with.
I have to disagree with you andefromtn, regarding UConn. Geno leaves his starters in because he takes great pride in running up the score on all his opponents, IMO. He has a great team. Maya Moore is a superstar. I have no doubt we will be capable of kicking their husky butts in post-season. Someone else most likely beat them too.
catch24rules writes:
Other then Oklahoma and maybe Stanford and Rutgers, What other top ranked team does ucan't play.
I don't know what their schedule is this year nor do I care what it is. They always play a cup cake schedule and are rewarded with a number one seed for the NCAA tournamnet and We are most always given the toughest bracket.
Pat will have this group playing great in all aspects of the game by tournament time. In the mean time we fans have to hang in there going thru growing pains.
Hornbuckle, Nicky, Parker, Spencer and others were a work in progress their first and second years, The baby Vol's will be fine.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I see another Lexis in Stricklin and another Catchings in Johnson.
Pat talks about having a go to player, she has one in Johnson. That girl is a handful inside the paint feed her the ball. She can't be stopped.
Great seeing Angie and Kelly back on the floor. When Angie starts hitting the 3 that will open up the middle for Kelly and Glory.
Go Lady Vols
dopedawg writes:
Way to go ladies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mad_poly_uct writes:
Good point about Uconn's depth. Dead on.Uconn's bench is their achilles heel. Significant injury's or early foul trouble could easily derail them. However, I do take issue with the lack of bench minutes last night. Prior to Okla. game, the starters have barely averaged 20 min a game, over the last 4 games. Entire bench has had signifcant minutes in last 4 games. Last night Okla. cut into 20 point 1st half lead to 11 at halftime, and were down by 7 with 14 min. left. It grew to 14 with 12 minutes left. With what Okla has, and what Uconn does not have on the bench, that was no time to clear the bench. 2 players off the bench who really need the minutes got them. Hayes,17 min, & McLaren, 16 min. A third,Heather Buck, is still out with mono.When the lead hit 23 with 5 min to go, and the starters were then coming out one, by one, I don't look at that as running up the score. Not against the 4th ranked team in the nation. As far as 98's opinion goes.....could you please cite some examples of GA taking" great pride in running up score on all his opponents". You actually watch all of their games, do you? lol...that is an opinion based on what? Something factual, or just your sheer, and utter hatred of the man?
tenn32rebel writes:
"...just your sheer, and utter hatred of the man?"
Hey, that works for me!!!!
Go Baby Lady Vols---Our Future Champions!
johnlg00 writes:
Good stuff, as usual, from you. I do not see the extensive substitutions after Pat had said she will shorten the rotation as a contradiction. This was the first game where all players were available for full-speed action. She can't decide on rotations until she sees all likely combinations on the floor together in live game action. I wouldn't be surprised if she employed the revolving door throughout the rest of the non-conference season before she cuts the rotation down. Even then, I will bet she goes at least nine deep. There is just too much talent available not to use as much of it as possible.
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