Offense requested by Summitt

Although Tennessee's locker room remains off limits, the Lady Vols will be receiving something valuable to start the women's basketball season.

Coach Pat Summitt is giving her players more latitude on offense, beginning with an exhibition game against Carson-Newman College at 7 tonight at Thompson-Boling Arena.

"Right now, I like what we've put in (on offense),'' Summitt said. "... yet I want to let them play."

The concession is noteworthy, considering the Lady Vols went 22-11 last season, were bounced in the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history and still are bivouacked in visitors' quarters at the arena. The added responsibility will offer an early read on how much difference a tough offseason has made.

"Going back and looking through a lot of what we did last year, keep in mind with all the freshmen, I think we felt like we had to give them more structure,'' Summitt said. "Now I think we can give them more freedom."

Tennessee will deploy a starting five of Kelley Cain, freshman Taber Spani, Alicia Manning, Angie Bjorklund and Shekinna Stricklen against C-N.

Manning's start rewards her offseason work. Conversely, fellow sophomore Glory Johnson's absence from the group results from being late for the team's photo day earlier this fall.

Summitt said that she will start sophomore Stricklen at point guard tonight and start classmate Briana Bass at the position in the second exhibition, Monday night against Delta State.

Jenny Moshak, the Lady Vols associate athletic director for sports medicine, will determine the availability of forwards Vicki Baugh (knee) and Faith Dupree (back spasms). Summitt is not expecting either Lady Vol to play, however.

While Baugh has been practicing, the junior forward remains in recovery mode from anterior cruciate ligament surgery in late February. Dupree returned to the court Wednesday but had missed the five previous practices.

Carson-Newman, which returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last season's 19-11 team, played the first of its three exhibitions Monday night, losing at Middle Tennessee State, 96-68. The Lady Eagles will play at North Carolina next Tuesday.

The Lady Vols' average margin of victory in the previous five exhibition meetings with C-N has been 60 points but that doesn't afford them any added leeway. For now, they have enough

"We want to just really give them a lot of responsibility for talking and calling their plays,'' Summitt said, "and just making sure that we are very vocal both offensively and defensively."

Notebook: Season tickets sales have reached approximately 10,000 ... Summitt said that her son, Tyler, will not sit on the bench for home games in order to make room for another team manager. ... Tennessee is ranked ninth in the preseason coaches' poll.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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