University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols Roll Past Auburn, 63-49
February 25, 2001 | Women's Basketball
 Courtney McDaniel, left, shoots over Auburn's Lori Nero on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001 in Auburn. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Todd J. Van Emst) |
The Lady Vols (28-1, 14-0 Southeastern Conference), who had already clinched their fourth consecutive league title, head into the postseason with a 17-game winning streak and their fifth perfect SEC mark.
Tennessee had the Tigers (17-11, 5-9), ranked as high as ninth early in the season, out of synch from the outset and built a 29-point lead early in the second half.
The Lady Vols tuned up for next week's conference tournament by having 10 players log double-digit minutes, at times putting four freshmen on the court.
That helped keep the game respectable as Auburn closed it with a 19-7 run.
The Tigers made just 16 of 64 shots from the floor, and were 3-of-15 from 3-point range.
Tennessee's Kristen Clement hit two first-half 3-pointers and scored nine points while Kara Lawson had eight points and five assists.
Tasha Hamilton led Auburn with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Shana Askew added 10 points.
The Lady Vols answered Auburn's only lead, at 4-2, with a 17-0 run and made four 3-pointers in less than three minutes. After that, it was no contest even though Tennessee shot just 34.8 percent.
Tennessee scored the first 12 points of the second half to build its largest lead at 47-18.
The Tigers missed 20 of their first 22 shots and hit only 20 percent in the first half. They finished with their lowest scoring output and shooting percentage of the season.
When it appeared Auburn might trim a few points off the lead, April McDivitt hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds to put Tennessee up 35-18.
Tennessee has won 12 of the last 13 meetings with Auburn.
At halftime, the Tigers retired the jerseys of former Olympians Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, Carolyn Jones and Vickie Orr. They were the first jerseys retired by the Auburn women's team.
