Tennessee didn’t leave its shooting touch in study hall.
In the midst of final exams, the Lady Vols aced a big women’s basketball test, beating Texas 78-58 before a Sunday night crowd of 13,434 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
No. 6 Tennessee (7-0) shot a sizzling 52.5 percent from the floor. The Lady Vols were almost as accurate from long range, hitting half of their 3-point attempts (8 for 16).
UT coach Pat Summitt thought the accuracy was the by-product of the team having more leeway with their half-court play.
“I’m more confident with this group and trust this group to make decisions and have more freedom in the half-court game,” she said. “They were really good tonight.”
Summitt singled out guards Shekinna Stricklen and Angie Bjorklund, who combined for 29 points and shot 12-for-24 from the floor, mentioning how well the duo plays together.
Bjorklund scored a team-high 15 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and recording four of Tennessee’s 23 assists.
Stricklen had 14 points, six rebounds and a team-leading five assists.
Lady Vols center Kelley Cain complimented the backcourt by attributing its play to a new and improved attitude.
“I think they have a different swagger about them,’’ she said. “You can tell our guards are a lot more confident in what they’re doing.”
Tennessee’s post game strutted its stuff, too. Cain came off the bench to score 12 points, hitting all six of her shot attempts. She scored eight in the first half, establishing the inside game as a prelude to rest of Tennessee’s assault. The 6-foot-6 redshirt sophomore also had four blocks.
Forward Glory Johnson scored 14.
“I’ve seen all of their games and I thought this was really their best overall game,’’ Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said. “So congratulations to them.”
Tennessee’s accuracy was a stark contrast to No. 17 Texas (5-3), which needed a final scoring spurt to reach 30 percent (21-for-70).
All of the misfiring wasn’t the result of poor attempts. With Tennessee playing man-to-man defense for the game’s duration, Goestenkors counted six missed layups apiece in both halves.
“There’s 24 points we could’ve used,’’ she said.
Reserve guard Brittainey Raven had several of those misses at the rim. She scored a game-high 19 points but took 20 shots.
“We were definitely rushing,’’ Raven said. “Layups are what we make every day in practice and so (Tennessee’s) height and Tennessee altering shots is not an excuse for us.”
Tennessee used a 12-point scoring run to open a 31-18 with 6:58 left in the first half. The lead grew to 41-24 at the break after another trey by Stricklen, who had 12 of her points in the half.
The Lady Vols, who shot 57.1 percent in the second half (16-for-28), led by as many as 27 points during the final 20 minutes. The big lead allowed every Lady Vol to play at least 10 minutes. Nobody played more than Bjorklund’s 32.
Summitt thought the game was helpful for next Sunday’s game against Rutgers in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
“We challenged (Texas) with our man-to-man (defense),’’ Summitt said. “That’s good preparation for our next game because Rutgers always plays off the bounce and hunts for paint points.
“This was a good test for us. I think a lot of our defense was how much we rushed them. They had some good open looks but they didn’t shoot the ball well.”
The outcome also provided a good boost for the Lady Vols’ growing confidence.
“Just knowing that we know what we can do,’’ Johnson said, “and what we have to do to beat teams and be successful. When everyone brings their A-game and everyone can contribute during a game, then I think our team will be great.”
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Comments » 14
golfin_blondie writes:
I watched the game tonight and was really impressed. The Lady Vols seem to keep improving and by March.....let's say "WE'RE BACK!"
chaos001 writes:
Cain's soft touch for a 6'6" post is amazing.
Williams could do better, seemed lazy again tonight.
Stricklen seemed off her game tonight as well.
Johnson is kicking butt. I hope she keeps it up all season.
KCHS63 writes:
If Shekinna was off her game tonight, I sure hope she keeps it up!
:)
CTOWNICON writes:
Stricklen played a good game as well as the rest of the lady vols. The more the season goes on they are improving. They are not perfect but they are as solid as any other team when they are playing to the best of their abilities.
Glory, I must applaud! She has really stepped her game up this year. The added jump shot and she always cleans up on the boards. I like to see Angie pump fake and step in and take the short jumper. I hope she continues to add to her game and not settle for the three's.
The lady vols did a great job tonight!
chaos001 writes:
well, i guess i didn't seem to notice her presence as much this game. maybe i was paying too much attention to that classless woman Texas hired to replaced Conradt. it made me happy to see her soooooo unhappy. if you can't tell, i'm still bitter about that duke game in 99.
xvolx writes:
lady vols playing more under control on off. Defense still has some holes. Brewer not aggressive enough, Bass needs her role defined to her. She tries to do things she is not capable of doing. Spani weak on defense and needs to develope med. range jumpshot. She has beautiful release from 3 pt. range. Strickland and Manning have become complete players. Johnson is playing to her strengths this year. Cain has to play cautious. We can live with that. If Williams gets her attitude straightened out, she will be a good player. Probably the most athletic player on the team. They look good, but still can be better. Good coaching job.
tonyvick#213307 writes:
Is it William's attitude or just lack of experience, however, everyone sees her potential. Bjorkland scares me when she starts dribbling, we just need you to shoot the ball wherever you are on the floor. Strickland and Johnson the next 'Holdsclaw and Catchings'. Brewer no matter who you are playing bring it because as you are called more to replace Cain we need a consistent effort. Cain get well for as you go the team will go.
UTVOLSRROCKN writes:
Great team effort! Assists were awesome! Saw alot of improvement. It was nice that the bench got some valuable playing time and some are going to develop into great players. Great coaching job by Pat! TCB Lady Vols! GBO!
Keep on keeping on!!
ladivolfan writes:
Best game as a team yet. In spite of the spread, I believe Texas gave them their toughest defense so far. Spani is an amazing freshmen. These girls are headed for a national championship soon - possibly in 2011, but more likely in 2012.
richvol writes:
I noticed Brewer really hustle ONE TIME in getting down the floor and she caught a pass on the way to the basket and scored easily on a layup. All the other times she jogged down the floor and missed almost half of our possessions before she got in position. Is this girl this badly out of shape or just lazy? Her hip strength is very low as she can't keep her balance when bumped. She fell on the floor at least 3 times last night. Get in shape...with her ability she is hurting the team by being out of shape.
Bass is a good athlete who has no idea what to do with the ball once she gets upcourt. She gets herself in trouble so often I'm surprised when she does something right.
Manning is really developing into a good player. Smart,tough,rebounder and good passer who just needs to work on her outside shot.
Still impressed with Spani. Can't wait to get our other big back.
reg_mza#219136 writes:
Well everyone else is chiming in on analysis so here is what I see:
Brewer - let's face it folks, this girl is not a small girl by no stretch and has the bulk and size to be a formidable post player but let's face another fact and that is she's not very fast. She is a slow lumbering post player with short choppy strides so she doesn't make up ground quickly and she has to build up momentum to get to full speed. Now once in the post she has good lateral quickness and foot work in order to utilize her post moves. She may still be out of shape some, but not by much as Pat runs them to death and works them out hard. She is inconsistent however and I think her mental focus could improve in order to do exactly what is expected of her.
Cain - She on the other hand has a longer stride and makes up more ground as she runs down court even if she is bigger than Brewer. She however is also in better shape so she can run sprints more consistently to get from one side of the floor to the other.
Williams - You know she reminds me of Hornbuckle. She has quick feet, can break you off the dribble, effortless ball handling, and quick hands so she'll be a thief extraordinaire if she does not end in Pat's doghouse all the time.
Spani, Manning - She really needs to develop a signature shot. 3s, midrage 2s, layups, reverse layups, up and unders, whatever but she needs a signature go to move in order to compensate for some rather average ball handling skills.
Stricklen - Not going to say anything about this girl except she really has stepped up and is showing consistency and effort to go along with that talent.
Johnson - Like Stricklen and as someone else mentioned, is really playing to her strengths. She reminds me of (gasps as I say it) Swin Cash of UConn. She was a beast on the boards but could torment you in all aspects of the game. She does not remind me of Tamika Catchings only because Catchings has/had so much more range on her jump shots and consistency with it.
tennboy78 writes:
Kamiko is quick and I think passes well - getting a lot of people involved. She can score too. She can break down the defense, and a variety of options are always there when you are quick enough to drive in under control with your head up - it is a beautiful game when you draw the defense and dish off for an assist.
I would like to see Alyssia do more pick and roll. We are tall enough to get the ball to a "roller", and this is a way to get her more involved. She fought hard at times, but we were not ready to get her the ball in the post at the right position last night. We saw on Tuesday what she can do with the ball - it is just getting it to her.
I said earlier that this could be a very good team if there was a significant maturity increase in the off-season, and it appears that this has been the case for the sophomores. We have solidly improved focus in most of our posessions and are fighting harder and with more consistency (not inclusive of the first half with UCLA). It gives us more flex in how we bring the newbies along.
LadyVolsEighTimes writes:
Stanford should tell us exactly how well the LV's have improved over last year.
Kamiko is a Military Dependent, or as we are more commonly and accurately called Military Brats! What makes them awful hard to coach is what is considered as strict discipline and guidelines by normal people, military kids simply look at as something to get around/over/thru or even ignore.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
This team is starting to show how a bit of maturity and experience can GREATLY increase the productivity most of us rather impatiently expected of them last year. Not much to add to the good analyses that preceded me. When Brewer gets in better game shape, Williams learns to recognize her opportunities, and, hopefully, Baugh comes back strong, this team will be able to play with anybody. There may still be some periods of struggle with what is still a very young team, but the progress from last year is noticeable across the board. Congrats to CPS for staying after them and to the gals for buying in. This could be a VERY good year for the LVs!
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