Summitt boots Lady Vols from locker room

Friday was moving day for the Tennessee women’s basketball team.

The players gathered their belongings from the team’s locker room at Thompson-Boling Arena in order to resettle in one of the visiting team locker rooms before Sunday’s SEC game against Mississippi State.

The punitive measure was in response to Thursday night’s 66-56 loss at Kentucky. It’s something Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt hasn’t done since the 1989-90 season. Not even the 10-loss team of 1996-97 received an eviction notice.

“This team, they’re not as competitive as the ’97 team,’’ Summitt said.

The Lady Vols also must bring their own practice attire and are responsible for laundering their gear.

“Since they like to do their own thing,’’ Summitt said, “We thought we’d let them wear their own stuff.”

Summitt said the latest arrangements likely will continue through the SEC tournament next month.

“Spoiled,” she said of the players, “they’ve been spoiled.”

In other matters, Summitt watched video Friday with guard Angie Bjorklund, who’s shot 3 for 22 from the floor the past two games.

Summitt was encouraged by center Kelley Cain’s work in practice after playing 23 minutes against Kentucky and scoring a personal-best 16 points. Summitt second-guessed herself for not returning Cain to the game earlier during Kentucky’s decisive scoring surge in the second half.

“She hadn’t been feeling well the last couple of days so I didn’t know how long to play her and how much she could go,’’ Summitt said.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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