University of Tennessee Athletics
2001-02 TENNESSEE LADY VOL BASKETBALL SEASON IN REVIEW
October 29, 2003 | Women's Basketball
The Tennessee Lady Volunteer basketball squad had a daunting task facing it as the team took to the court for the 2001-02 season. This was a team with no legacy ... no NCAA Championship rings ... no returning All-Americans ... no players who had ever experienced an undefeated season. However, by season's end, the team theme of United We Stand had withstood the rigors of the toughest schedule in the nation to shape a 29-5 record, an unprecedented 13th appearance in the Final Four and an unparalleled 11th SEC title.
In the aftermath of the tragic events that shook our nation on Sept. 11, 2001, United We Stand became the Lady Vols' mantra as they were bound to the commitment of accountability as college students and gifted basketball players. This team was on a mission to make its mark and the squad realized that it would take contributions from all 14 players to make it happen.
Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt's 28th edition of a Lady Vol basketball team was blessed with talent, athleticism, depth and the leadership of 5'9" junior guard Kara Lawson (15.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg). Lawson, along with 6'5" senior post Michelle Snow (12.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and fellow junior forward Gwen Jackson (10.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg), formed the scoring and rebounding nucleus of the Lady Vols, but all season long 11 other players stepped up nightly to add their contributions to the winning efforts. In fact, seven different players took turns as the team's leading scorer and rebounder throughout the season.
True to form, the number two-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols faced five ranked opponents in its first 10 games to start the year. In the season opener, the Lady Vols traveled to Tennessee-Chattanooga and played in front of a McKenzie Arena record throng of 9,113 while recording a resounding 97-57 victory over the Lady Mocs. The contest marked the debut of the Tennessee rookie class who immediately made their presence felt in the boxscore. Freshman forward Shyra Ely (9.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg) joined that rare group of Lady Vol rookies who got the nod to start in their very first collegiate game and she responded with a team-leading 16 points. Fellow frosh Loree Moore (5.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.0 apg) and Michelle Munoz (3.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg) aided the scoring effort with 15 and 13 points, respectively, in their inaugural contests.
UT followed its 40-point season-opening road victory with a 40-point, 106-66, win over Southern Cal in the home opener. The victory marked the 200th all-time win for the Lady Vols in Thompson-Boling Arena since the team moved to the largest on-campus basketball facility in the country in 1987. Again it was the newcomers who led the Lady Vols to victory as Ely tallied a career-high 22 points and was joined by fellow rookie Brittany Jackson (6.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg), who registered a career high of 14 points. The early litmus test for the squad was right around the corner when #5-ranked Louisiana Tech came to town a few days later.
A Thompson-Boling Arena crowd of 15,556 was on hand to lend support as UT's "sixth player" against the Lady Techsters. UT passed the test against Tech, recording a 90-75 decision that marked the Lady Vols 300th all-time victory over a ranked opponent since the first women's basketball poll (Associated Press) was created in 1976. No other team in the nation has recorded more wins over ranked opponents than the Lady Vols. LTU got caught in the snow, Michelle Snow that is, as the big center tallied a career-high 27 points against the Lady Techsters.
After the home victory over Tech, Tennessee took to the road for its next seven games. The first stop was a homecoming game at #22/21 George Washington University for Lawson, who hails from nearby Alexandria, Va. The game was played in front of the first-ever sell-out in the Smith Center, as 5,252 were on hand to see UT dismantle the Colonials, 88-57. Tennessee's balance was beginning to become apparent in the young campaign as five players reached double-figures scoring. UT then traveled to Orlando, Fla., and Disney World to meet #8/9-ranked N.C. State in the Honda Elite Classic where the Big Orange registered an impressive 93-56 win over the Wolfpack. Gwen Jackson recorded UT's first double-double of the season (14 points and 12 rebounds), while 6-1 sophomore forward-center Courtney McDaniel (3.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg) tossed in a career-high 11 points.
The Lady Vols forgot to pack the defense and rebounding intangibles that had sustained them through the first five games when they made their inaugural trip to the Boston area to take on Boston College in front of a near-capacity crowd. Although UT dealt the Eagles a 75-66 loss, BC dominated the boxscore in a number of categories ... except the final score. For a young team, the trip into hostile BIG EAST territory was a great learning experience of poise under pressure. Tennessee, despite committing a horrific 26 turnovers on 16 BC steals, iced 20 of 23 charity tosses to seal the win. A second Lady Vol rookie got the starting nod, as Moore logged time quarterbacking the team and turned in six assists to go along with three steals. After a whirlwind start to the season and fashioning a 6-0 record, Tennessee took an 11-day break from competition for final exams before traveling to fifth-ranked Stanford.
Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus was over-capacity with 7,391 fans screaming for their Cardinal in a contest that had a post-season, March Madness feeling to it as the Lady Vols rallied for a 68-62 win. It was a game of runs as Tennessee jumped out by 11 points, only to be answered by a 19-0 first half Stanford run. Three huge treys by UT sophomore forward Tasha Butts (4.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and a monster NBA trey by freshman Brittany Jackson knotted the score at 38-38 going into halftime. The Cardinal controlled 16 minutes and 15 seconds of the second stanza before the Lady Vols rallied for the win. UT outscored SU 9-1 down the stretch to claim the victory. Tennessee took the momentum of the Stanford win to Chicago where it thumped DePaul, 80-66, in a sold-out DePaul Athletic Center on Dec. 19. The game marked the return of 6'5" sophomore center Ashley Robinson (4.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg) to the line up following additional rehab time needed for the healing of her torn anterior cruciate ligament. The Tennessee highlight of the night was Lawson eclipsing the 1000-career point plateau, thus becoming the 26th Lady Vol to join the club. Ironically, on the night that she celebrated her scoring prowess, Lawson produced her first career double-double while registering a career-high 13 rebounds.
A pair of road games after the Christmas holidays closed out the 2001 portion of the schedule as the Lady Vols traveled to Atlanta to face the #9-ranked Duke Blue Devils in the ACC/SEC Shootout and to Memphis to square-off against cross-state rival Memphis. In a game of spurts, Tennessee fashioned a couple of big scoring runs to hand Duke an 89-68 loss in the Philips Arena as every Lady Vol got into the scoring mix. A 92-66 win over Memphis in The Pyramid provided Tennessee with a 10-0 record heading into the new year as junior April McDivitt (4.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg) turned in a solid 13-point and four steal effort in 22 minutes of action. It marked just the fifth time that a Lady Vol squad took an unblemished slate into the second half of the season.
Tennessee started off 2002 with a bang by facing a quartet of ranked teams in back-to-back games. The Lady Vols opened SEC play at #15-ranked Florida and dismantled the Lady Gators, 88-64. Two days later, #2-ranked UT played its first game at home in over a month, entertaining top-ranked Connecticut on Jan. 5, 2001. The advance sell out, then-largest crowd in the history of women's collegiate basketball (24,611) was on hand to see UConn snap the Lady Vols' 26-game homecourt winning streak with an 86-72 victory. The Huskies dominated in every statistical category shooting 57% from the field as Diana Taurasi stung UT for a career-high 32 points. Tennessee, now ranked in the number two and three spots in the polls with an 11-1 record, had little time to dwell over the loss as #25-ranked Old Dominion came to town three days later.
UT showed a few signs of a post-UConn hangover before holding on late in the game to tag the Lady Monarchs with a 74-62 defeat. It was Lady Vol forward Tasha Butts to the rescue in the second stanza, as the sophomore forward chipped in 13 second-half points to give her team a spark. After the brief two-game break from the conference wars, Tennessee welcomed a pair of SEC Tigers to Thompson-Boling Arena and dealt the #19-ranked Auburn Lady Tigers a 71-50 loss, followed by a tough 79-67 victory over the LSU Lady Tigers three days later. LSU, just eight players strong, had just dropped out of the top 25 polls for the first time during the 2001-02 season, and they were fightin' mad. Both teams led and answered scoring runs throughout the opening stanza. Down by seven points, Lady Vol senior center Shalon Pillow (2.0 ppg, 0.8 rpg) came off the bench and scored eight points in a three-minute stretch to get her team back into the game. UT gained control in the second stanza to claim the victory as UT denied the Lady Tigers even one offensive rebound in the second half.
Now with a little three-game win streak under their belts, the Lady Vols rolled into Columbia, S.C., for a major showdown with #8-ranked South Carolina as the only SEC unbeatens in league play. In front of an advance sell out crowd of 12,168, the Lady Vols plucked the Lady Gamecocks for an 80-61 victory. The USC fans were treated to Snow's first one-handed jam as the big senior threw one down with 1:51 left in the ball game. In between, however, it was a game of the runs until UT switched to a 3-2 zone, causing the Lady Gamecocks to miss 12 of 13 shots in the second half as the Lady Vols grabbed a 20-point lead at times.
Although winning, scoring in spurts was becoming a stressful trademark of this Lady Vol team. When Alabama came to town, the trend continued as Tennessee easily handled the Crimson Tide, 82-57. This time when the scoring spurts or defensive lapses, started Coach Summitt went to her bench early and often. In the game, no Lady Vol starter reached double-figures scoring, breaking a continuous 510-game streak covering 15-years, where at least one starter was in extra digits. On the afternoon, Tennessee reserves scored 49 of UT's 82 total points.
After a whirlwind two-and-a-half weeks, the Lady Vols had a week to prepare to play #22 Auburn and #12 Florida. AU's third-largest crowd in women's basketball history (6,614) was on hand to see UT dispatch the Tigers 66-53. Fortunately for UT, Lawson packed her "A" game, leading the Lady Vols with a 23-point outing, including a tally of six points in the final minute of play. Tennessee's second meeting of the season against Florida needed a starter's pistol to begin the game rather than a jump ball. Up tempo from the "git-go," the Lady Vols raced to an 86-66 win at home. In this contest, Coach Summitt employed her ninth different starting line up of the season, trying to find a combination that would give the team a jump-start from the opening tip. As a result, the Lady Vol reserves tallied 35 points while the Lady Gator bench could only muster 10 points.
Heading into February and the final eight games of the regular season (four versus ranked teams), the #2-ranked Lady Vols sported an 18-1 overall record and were flawless in conference play with a 7-0 slate. All of that was about to change with a visit to #6-ranked Vanderbilt in Nashville on Feb. 2, 2002. The joint was jumpin' as the Commodores prevailed over the Lady Vols, 76-59, in front of an advance sell out crowd of 14,168. The win marked Vandy's first victory over UT at home since Dec. 6, 1990. A game of first-half scoring spurts, the two teams were finally deadlocked at 29-all at the break. In the second stanza, it was all Vandy as the Commodores kept the Lady Vols at bay. An extremely physical contest, Tennessee amazingly never found itself at the charity stripe in the second half.
Disappointed by the loss, Summitt conducted "Basketball 101" class in the three days prior to the meeting with a feisty Arkansas Lady Razorback squad. Tennessee, now ranked #3 in the polls, rung up a solid 93-65 win over the Lady 'Backs. A third of UT's total came from Lawson, who recorded a career high of 30 points in front of the home folks. Tennessee had hoped to feed of off the momentum, as the team traveled to #21-ranked Georgia a few days later. No one could have predicted that the Lady Vols would escape with a 52-50 victory.
It started out as a very typical UT vs. UGA game - a series of first half mini-runs by each team - which resulted in a 35-27 Tennessee advantage at the half. After Gwen Jackson connected on the Lady Vols' third basket of the second half at 13:12 to provide a nine-point, 44-35 lead, it would be 10 more minutes before UT would score again. In all, the Lady Vols tallied just five second-half baskets, which tied a 22-year old school record for the fewest points in the second frame (17). Nevertheless, a win's a win, and in this case it marked the 26th consecutive season that a Lady Vol team had eclipsed 20 victories.
Tennessee returned home to play their third game in five days as the #17-ranked Texas Lady Longhorns rolled into Knoxville. Still reeling from their second-half offensive collapse against the Lady Bulldogs, Tennessee dropped a 69-66 decision to Texas. The loss was UT's 11th all-time (to just six opponents) in Thompson-Boling Arena since moving to the facility to start the 1987-88 season. Additionally, it stopped Tennessee's 13-game winning stranglehold over Texas dating back to 1989. A bright spot was Snow's 16 points and 10 rebounds. A spot of concern was Tennessee's inability to convert on its three-point attempts (only 10%), including the missed trey that would have sent the game into overtime.
By dropping the game to Texas, Tennessee had lost two games at home during the 2001-02 season that marked only the fourth time ever that occurred in 15 years at Thompson-Boling Arena. One of just six teams to ever defeat the Lady Vols at TBA, the Longhorns joined an exclusive club with Connecticut and Georgia as teams having claimed two victories over the Lady Vols in the mammoth 25,000-seat structure on the banks of the Tennessee River.
Two days later, UT was back on the road again, this time visiting Mississippi State. It was Valentine's Day birthday girl Kara Lawson who nailed a 12-foot jumper as time expired to claim the 80-78 victory for the Big Orange. Hitting the winning shot against MSU in Humphrey Coliseum was nothing new for Lawson, who provided the same dramatics as a rookie two years earlier while connecting on a fantastic game-winning trey with 1.6 ticks left on the clock. UT was caught in another game of big runs, as State jumped out by as many as 14 points in the first half. Tennessee managed to rally in the second stanza only to be answered by MSU. Finally, UT rookie Brittany Jackson went on a mission. In the final four minutes of the game, she hit a trey, followed by a huge defensive rebound, a key steal, and played decoy to draw defenders away from Lawson for a decisive trey with 35 seconds to go. In all, Brittany recorded a career-high 24 points, while Lawson narrowly missed her top mark with a 29-point effort.
It was a great win in a whirlwind week, but there was no time to celebrate as #6 Vanderbilt was swaggering into Knoxville for the second match up of the season. A weary Lady Vol team pinned a 75-68 loss on the Commodores as Tennessee completed its exhausting NBA-like schedule with four games in six days. In the opening stanza, it looked like Vandy was going to claim a regular season sweep over the Lady Vols until UT's bench reinforcements - Pillow, McDaniel and Brittany Jackson - arrived on the scene. The trio pushed the Big Orange out to a one-point halftime lead after trailing by as many as eight in the first half. Vandy managed to control most of the second half as well before Lawson silenced the Commodores by scoring eight points in the final minute of play.
Two games remained in the regular season, a trip to Mississippi followed by a visit from Kentucky. The #4-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols claimed their 11th SEC title with an 86-69 win over Ole Miss in Oxford. The victory was UT's 300th all-time over a Southeastern Conference foe. With a refreshing five days between games, 11 Lady Vols found their way into the scoring column while McDaniel accounted for a career-high 13 rebounds in the boxscore. Against Kentucky, the Lady Vol tradition of honoring and starting its seniors continued as guard Amanda Canon (0.2 ppg, 1.0 rpg) got the first start of her career. The Kats played gamely in the first half, sending the teams into the locker room tied at 42 before running out of steam in the second stanza and eventually falling to UT, 89-64. The win marked the Lady Vols' 40th consecutive SEC home win dating back to 1996.
Tennessee carried a 24-3 overall record and a 13-1 SEC slate into 2002 postseason action. The first stop on the "March Madness" tour was Nashville's Gaylord Entertainment Center for the SEC Tournament. The #3-ranked Lady Vols opened play in the tournament with a tough 81-67 win over the #24-ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs. UGA had not forgotten the stinging two-point loss to UT earlier in the season and quickly opened a 10-point lead over the Lady Vols. UT's great equalizer was SEC All-Freshman team selection Shyra Ely, who erupted for 17 first-half points to give the Lady Vols a 35-34 lead at the half. In the second half, behind Ely and Lawson, Tennessee easily locked up the victory over Georgia. On the afternoon, Ely recorded a pair of career highs as she tallied 31 points and 11 rebounds in her SEC Tournament debut. With her effort, Ely became just the second frosh in Lady Vol history to record a 30-point game following Tamika Catchings' 35-point outburst at DePaul in 1998.
The Lady Vol stay in Nashville would be cut short, as the team could not get by unranked LSU and suffered a disappointing 81-80 loss in the semifinals. It marked the first time in five years (to the day) that Tennessee lost to an unranked opponent. Auburn turned the trick in the SEC Tournament on March 2, 1997. In another game of (what else?) but hot and cold runs, UT found itself down by seven points with 2:10 to play when Lawson turned into a one-woman wrecking crew. The junior gamely recorded 11 points in little over than a minute to knot the score at 80. After a costly UT turnover, Lawson still got the ball back and managed to launch a shot at the buzzer.
Back on the practice floor in Knoxville, the #6-ranked Lady Vols awaited word of their placement in the NCAA Tournament bracket. When the pairings were announced, Tennessee was stunned to discover that they were a #2 seed in the NCAA Midwest Regional (Ames, Iowa) bracket behind top-seeded Vanderbilt after fashioning a 25-4 overall record against 17 ranked opponents and possessing the best RPI in the nation. The other seeds in the Midwest were #3- Iowa State and #4- North Carolina. One coach called it the "twilight zone bracket."
Regardless, Tennessee focused on Georgia State, its NCAA First Round opponent in Knoxville. After the 13-day lay off between games, the Lady Vols were anxious to make their 21st consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. GSU, coached by former Lady Vol Olympian Lea Henry, was confident as the Lady Panthers made their first visit to the Thompson-Boling Arena. Henry's homecoming was spoiled by a 98-68 thrashing by her alma mater, as Gwen Jackson exploded for a career-high-tying night of 28 points for the Lady Vols.
UT's reward for defeating Georgia State was a St. Patrick's Day meeting with Notre Dame, who had turned New Mexico away in first-round play, 58-44. Tennessee enjoyed the "luck of the orange" defeating the Irish, resplendent in their St. Patty's Day special green uniforms, 89-50. UT sprinted out to a massive 53-27 halftime advantage. What made it so amazing was the Irish was holding the opposition to just 56.7 points for the game. The victory was the 30th consecutive in NCAA play on the Lady Vols' home floor -- a mark unparalleled in women's collegiate hoops. In the final home game of her career, Snow desperately wanted to dunk in front of the hometown fans, but she was fouled on her attempt with 1:59 left in the game and the dunk didn't go down.
Tennessee then advanced to its 21st consecutive round of the Sweet 16 and faced upstart and 11th-seeded Brigham Young University. BYU shocked the nation, knocking off NCAA Midwest Regional host Iowa State, 75-69, on the Cyclones' home court. Tennessee had its hands full from the start against BYU as the Cougars were playing their third game in the Hilton Coliseum and had the ISU fans rooting for them. Behind the inspired play off the bench by rookie Shyra Ely, the Lady Vols took a 68-57 win into the NCAA Midwest Regional final. Ely led her team in scoring and rebounding, posting 21 points and seven rebounds. A vital stat for UT was knocking in 24-of-30 charity tosses, including 13-of-18 in the final seven minutes of play.
The victory set up the third meeting of the season between SEC and cross-state rivals Tennessee and #4-ranked Vanderbilt. After splitting wins in the regular season match ups, this was the toughest 40 minutes in collegiate basketball, as Tennessee narrowly took the win, 68-63, to advance to the Final Four for the 13th time in school history. It also marked the sixth time that the Lady Vols had to get past a Southeastern Conference school to advance to the Final Four.
In a nail-biting affair, both teams made and answered a number of scoring runs after trading baskets in the early going. Tennessee had a comfortable 34-25 lead at the half and extended the margin in the final 20 minutes by as many as 15 points before Vandy cut it to a bucket with 5:29 left. Snow, coming in off the bench, came up with the play of the night, canning a 10-foot jumper with 49 ticks left on the clock as UT pulled ahead, 65-60. Her hurry-up offense, with six points in the final five minutes was a deciding factor in the win. However, it was Gwen Jackson who was the scoring and rebounding machine against Vandy, chipping in 18 points while grabbing a dozen boards. For her effort that night and Ely's display against BYU, the pair was named to the 2002 NCAA Midwest All-Regional team. Now it was on to San Antonio and the Alamodome for the final dances of the season.
In earning her 13th trip to the Final Four, Pat Summitt passed the legendary John Wooden for the most trips to the Final Four. As the lowly number two seed, Tennessee joined top seeds Connecticut, Duke and Oklahoma in San Antonio.
In the first semifinal, the Lady Vols drew the daunting task of trying to knock off the nation's number one and undefeated Connecticut Huskies. Only Tennessee stood in the way of initially blocking UConn's hopes to tie the Lady Vols' record for a perfect 39-0 season, established during the 1997-98 campaign. On this night, though, in a city where the original "Volunteers" fought the good fight at the Alamo in the mid-1800s, the Huskies prevailed with a smothering 79-56 win witnessed by the largest crowd (29,619) ever to see a collegiate women's basketball game. UT scored off the tip but that would be the only lead the Lady Vols managed as UConn was at its best racing out to a 38-25 halftime lead. No matter what the Lady Vols tried to accomplish, the Huskies had an answer, taking as much as a 31-point lead in the second half, 70-39 with 9:02 to play. On a positive note, Moore collected a few final assists in the UConn game and passed Dawn Marsh (1984-85) to become the all-time freshman assist leader with 133 scoring passes.
Although the Lady Vols fell short of their goal to win a national title, they stood united in their quest for excellence with a young and talented squad. By season's end, the team with the theme of United We Stand had withstood the rigors of the toughest schedule in the nation to shape a 29-5 record, an unprecedented 13th appearance in the Final Four and an unparalleled 11th SEC title.
Once again, fans by the thousands showed up to watch the Lady Vols play at all venues - home games, hostile road gyms and at a variety of neutral sites. It's no wonder that Tennessee played in front of a record throng at Tennessee-Chattanooga...the first-ever sell out at George Washington University...a near-capacity crowd at Boston College...an advance sell out and over capacity gathering at the Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus...the then-largest crowd ever to see a collegiate women's basketball game (24,611) when #2 Tennessee battled with top-ranked Connecticut in Knoxville...a raucous advance sell out throng at SEC foe South Carolina...the third biggest audience at Auburn...the second largest attendance at Mississippi State...another record advance sell out at Vanderbilt and of course, the new NCAA record at the Final Four as 29, 619 watched Tennessee and Connecticut square-off in the Alamodome.
In all, 370,718 fans watched the Lady Vols in person and countless tens-of-thousands tuned in to 26 nationally televised games. And once again, it was no surprise that Tennessee led the country in home attendance as an average of 14,295 clicked through the turnstiles to enjoy the excitement of the Orange Nation.
