Strange: Long and short of it: Lady Vols a tall tale

Sometimes first impressions are the real thing.

So it was Saturday at a first-round NCAA women's tournament game at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The introduction of the starting lineups emphasized the difference in scale between No. 1 seed Tennessee and No. 16 seed Austin Peay.

First a Lady Governor would be introduced, then her Lady Vol counterpart would meet her at mid-court. In every case, the Austin Peay player was looking up.

No one had farther to look up than Jasmine Rayner, Austin Peay's 5-foot-10 post player. Her particular match-up was 6-6 Kelley Cain.

"She's huge,'' Rayner said later, following Tennessee's 75-42 victory.

Cain was huge Saturday, literally and figuratively. Consider her 22 minutes:

Her 18 points came on 9-of-11 shooting. She rounded up 12 rebounds, eight of them on the offensive glass. And she blocked two shots.

Austin Peay's tallest player was 5-11 Nicole Jamen. Tennessee's shortest starter was 6-footer Angie Bjorklund.

Everywhere you looked on the court, Tennessee was bigger, taller, longer.

Everywhere you looked in the box score, the size advantage was evidenced.

Tennessee won the boards, 47-28. The Lady Vols outscored Austin Peay in the paint 36-20 and 19-4 on second-chance points.

The Lady Govs needed nearly seven minutes to get their first bucket and it never got appreciably easier after that. They ended up shooting 30.2 percent.

Austin Peay coach Carrie Daniels anticipated the dilemma once she saw the bracket drawn up Monday night.

Her scout team wielded broom sticks in practice to simulate Tennessee's height and length.

"We had to get a little creative,'' said Daniels.

Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt's game plan didn't have to be creative. It was obvious, even to a freshman.

"I think we just played a smart game,'' said Taber Spani. "Obviously, it would have been stupid for us not to go to our posts.''

Cain accounted for three of UT's first four baskets, 6-3 Alyssia Brewer getting the other.

Cain was perfect on her first six shots before a Lady Gov defender finally managed to deflect one - Brewer scored on the rebound.

"Kelley really worked for the ball today,'' Summitt said, "and you've got to give our guards a lot of credit for getting her touches.''

Rayner and the other Lady Govs were almost powerless to stop her.

"It doesn't matter who I play, whether they're my height or not,'' Cain said. "I'm going to play my game."

Her interpretation of her game, exactly?

"Have composure and get open,'' she said. "Rebound and play defense.''

Her game has rarely been better than it was against Austin Peay. Saturday was her third double-double of the season.

Shooting a high percentage is nothing new. She's had an 8-of-10 game, a 7-of-8, a 6-of-6. Still, the nine field goals were a career-high.

"We get the ball to her every chance we can,'' said Bjorklund, "and I think Kelley does such a great job of getting position and making it easy for the guards to get her the ball.''

The forwards, too. Brewer and Cain have a nice high-low look in which Brewer gets the ball at the head of the key and lobs it deep to Cain.

That's 6-foot-3 throwing to 6-foot-6.

"Me and Kelley work very well together,'' said Brewer.

Especially when the tallest defender is 5-11.

Dayton, a 67-66 winner over TCU on Saturday, will present a little more of an obstacle Monday night. At least according to the tape measure.

The Flyers have a 6-4 center, Casey Nance, and three other starters at least 6 feet tall.

Which Cain greets with a shrug and a promise:

"I'm going to play my game.''

Mike Strange may be reached at strangem@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6276.