Taber Spani almost had the points to match her birthday. She settled for her second-highest score of the season in Tennessee's 81-55 victory over Mississippi State on Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Spani, who turned 20 years old Thursday, finished with 18 points. The sophomore guard made seven of 12 shots from the field and hit two of four 3-pointers.
Her increased scoring was just what the Lady Vols needed in Angie Bjorklund's absence. Bjorklund, the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers, sat out the game with a foot injury.
"When you have a senior or captain go out, you have to step up," Spani said.
The timing of Spani's scoring was significant on another front. Her parents, Gary and Stacey Spani, were in town for the game.
"She has a really good skill set," UT coach Pat Summitt said. "She's not as athletic as some players but she works on her game.
"And she's gonna make big shots, because she has repetition."
Halfway Good: Mississippi State wasn't surprised at UT's halftime transformation. The Lady Bulldogs just couldn't do anything about it.
"Everybody was excited (after they led by two points at halftime)," guard Porsha Porter said. "But we knew they would come out and go hard at us.
"That's what they did."
The Lady Vols, who limited Mississippi State to 18 second-half points, have held four of their last five opponents to under 20 points in either the first or second half.
Florida managed only 15 first-half points in an 83-40 loss two weeks ago.
Clean Defense: The Lady Vols had a season-low seven fouls. That's 16 fewer than they had in their last loss, against Baylor on Dec. 14.
"They didn't make a lot of calls," Summitt said of the officials. "I'm not being negative about officiating. I thought they let a lot go.
"I kind of like it when they let them play. But I don't want anybody to get hurt."
Mississippi State was called for 19 fouls.
"All refs call different games," Spani said. "It was very physical tonight."
Baugh Out: Post player Vicki Baugh was held out of the game on the recommendation of Jenny Moshak, UT's associate athletic director for sports medicine.
"Jenny came to me and said she would prefer (Baugh) not play," Summitt said.
Baugh, who has missed 21 months of action because of injuries to her left knee, scored a season-high nine points last Sunday against Auburn.
Brewer Below Par: Alyssia Brewer, another player coming back from an injury (Achilles tendon), had four rebounds and two points in 11 minutes.
"She's not fully back," Summitt said. "I still think she has got to get her cardio where it needs to be.
"She does not have the speed from baseline to baseline of our other post players. . . . She was out for quite awhile."
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.
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Comments » 17
flatrock writes:
While Kamiko Williams was at PG, LVs outscored
MSU 52-21.
With others at PG, MSU outscored LVs 34-29.
PINK_CHAMPAGNE writes:
Spani played a good game tonight. Really proud of her. Great show for her parents to see. I know they are proud of their daughter. Brewer really needs some playing time to get some rhythm back in her game. In blow out games, she should be the first off the bench to get her game back! She really needs the game time experience!
maxvolfan#217855 writes:
Good game. Agree with you about Brewer. I like Williams at point. I would continue to let Johnson start and play a full game shes matured. No doubt about her determination and shes shooting better. Condition Cain to play her size . We will need her to compete with a Dunlap, Griner, Danielle Adams (which puts up at least 20-25 a game) With Griner we have got to learn to have one guard and another one strip the ball . Anyway im so pulling for those Dukies monday . I think a couple Uconn losses is our only chance to get a one seed . The other three teams I see winning out.Stan,Bay,Dk.
SummittsCourt writes:
Stanford will lose, Duke will lose and Texas A&M will lose, The Lady Vols will be no less than 3 when the season ends.
Shiggidyhappens writes:
Spani played a good game. I still would like to see her NOT trying the things she can't do at this level.....translation: "let go of the style point plays". That game is not her strength, same for Angie.
Both are like single flavor ice cream without toppings. Embrace that.
TennVol01 writes:
Spani has been one of my favorite players since she joined the team. Without her, the team could have been down 10 points at half. She is steady and never seems out of control. Glad she will be back for two more years.
And Johnson was awesome. Wow. She can move, rebound, and score at ease.
But Simmons was terrible. Her airball after airball was getting embarrassing. Why Pat let her play so much in the first half was a surprise. She is supposed to be fast, yet the opposing guard flew by her with ease. Was she ill?
xvolx writes:
Simmons is the key to this team, but she is too off. minded. She either doesn't know how to play defense yet or doesn't want to. Right now she is playing bullfighter defense. Olay. I see Avant as our shutdown def. player if she could stay healthy. Her def. is one of the reasons she was recruited.
ps11824 writes:
Several good comments on here today. I had to miss another game so I appreciate the descriptive posts. PINK, I agree about Brewer. I don't have a good feeling about Alyssia. I can't see how she or Avant will be able to contribute significantly this season. As for Baugh??? So very unfortunate is that situation. This team, this season is such an anomaly.
FarmerVol writes:
This game should help Taber continue losing the "deer in the headlights" look. Would really like to see her lose that lumbering-strut style of running down the court when she does not have the ball. She can play alot faster getting back than she shows 90% of the time. As few minutes as she plays except for last night, I don't get why she conserves her energy. Maybe she is dinged a little. All in all it was her best game this year IMHO but still along way from SEC tourny ready.
Ga_Dave writes:
As an old-time KC Chiefs fan who was in KC when they won the Super Bowl(yeah, I'm that old), I was thrilled when I first heard that Gary's little girl was becoming a Lady Vol. Thus far, I haven't been thrilled with her consistency, but last night showed what she is capable of doing for the LV's. GO TABER, make all of us KC fans proud of you - win the sec Championship and then the NC!!!!
richvol writes:
I thought Joe Champi was on target commenting that Meighan needs to think about her teammates first and herself second when handling the ball at point. She is way to quick to shoot without even considering her teammates that may have a much better shot. Meighan is terrific but takes too many crazy shots...freshman.
Did anyone else notice how chippy and downright nasty Champi was last night in his comments to his co-anchor.
I am beginning to see that Kamiko is the best point player we have as her passing at times is superb and her judgement on when to pass and when to shoot is improving. I would like to see Pat give her more positive feedback at times. She needs to get in real shape though so she can play hard for 30 minutes a game. She has real savvy on the bb floor...needs to be combined with terrific effort.
I agree wholeheartedly with Shiggidyhappens about Angie...she is mostly a role player. She is a terrific spot up shooter and that's what her role should be. I think Spani is developing into a more complete player though.
Glory is the best post by far. What a tremendous athlete. Her skills are much improved. I love to watch Manning play...she is so smart and does so many things well.
madrigal writes:
Well, Taber certainly knows about foot injuries! Glad she stepped up last night, let's see more of that!
volsgirl writes:
You go Spani girl...more of 3 points shot
1volk-nowi-tall writes:
joe champi is all about joe champi. I don't know why he left Auburn but I did see what I deemed as considerable jealousy, envy of Pat, calling her Capt. Hook at one time and mentioning that there was a rule about the coaches getting up from the bench when Glory was being mugged under the basket at the other end during the first half. His words are difficult to understand as he talks as if he has a mouth full of mush. Get someone else to do color. There are plenty of talented women who have played the game to handle that chore.
johnlg00 writes:
Not sure who would beat Duke right now, though they always seem to lose one no one expects. Has Stanford played UCLA yet? If not, I would give them a shot. They were a top-10 team the last time I looked. Great job, Nikki Caldwell!
cheetara writes:
Angie is nominated for the senior award. As Tennessee fans, we should vote for Angie. You can vote once per day. Angie does a lot for us Tennessee fans on the court, so we should take a few minutes per day and submit a vote for Angie for her hardwork. Here is the link.
http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/...
r2d2 writes:
I agree with your comments. Meighan Simmons is the "missing link" that the LV did not have last year. She is a "go to" player. CPS recognizes this and is lenient with Meighan for this reason. Listen to Pat's comments when someone ask her opinion of Meighan. Remember also, a lot of her miscues are due to her being a freshman. The LV cannot win a national title without Meighan Simmons. They may get to the final four but they cannot win the title without Simmons.
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