University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOLS TO CLOSE OUT 2005 AGAINST NOTRE DAME
December 30, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2005
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LADY VOLS TO CLOSE OUT 2005 AGAINST NOTRE DAME
THE GAME T he #1-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols (11-0) travel to South Bend, Ind., for the first time since 1994 to face #12/11-ranked Notre Dame (9-1) at 2 p.m. on Dec. 31. The Lady Vols and the Irish will be treated to an advance sell-out matinee crowd at the Joyce Center (11,418).LADY VOLS AT A GLANCE This is the Lady Vols' 32nd season under Head Coach Pat Summitt...She has compiled a staggering 893-172 overall record...Passed Dean Smith for most NCAA collegiate basketball wins of all-time with a 75-54 victory over Purdue on Mar. 22, 2005 ... Summitt Is just seven wins away from collecting 900 career victories...Her 2004-05 squad finished third in the NCAA Final Four Championships with a 30-5 overall record and were the SEC Tournament Champions...This season, UT returned eight letterwinners, two redshirt freshmen and welcomed one newcomer ...The 2005-06 season marks the Lady Vol debut for redshirt freshmen Candace Parker and Alex Fuller who sat out last season rehabbing their left knees...True freshman, #21 Lindsey Moss, a 6-0 guard from Alpharetta, Ga., is seeing her first action this season...UT lost soph Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood when she left the squad on Dec. 19, 2005... THE 4-1-1 ON THE FIGHTING IRISH Notre Dame freshman guard Lindsay Schrader led the Irish in scoring for the first time in her career with 13 points as #12/11 Notre Dame defeated Valparaiso, 58-50, on Dec. 28 in South Bend, Ind. ND's Megan Duffy and Courtney LaVere each added 10 points for the Irish (9-1) in their first game after a 10-day holiday break. It marked the first home contest for Notre Dame in 29 days, the longest drought between Joyce Center games since 1981-82. On the afternoon, Notre Dame had 19 turnovers, but held the Crusaders to 36 percent shooting. The Irish outscored Valparaiso 38-14 in the paint and shot 50 percent from the field. Notre Dame used a 10-0 early run to take a 12-2 lead and closed the half with a 9-4 run to take a 30-18 halftime lead. The Irish led by as many as 17 points in the second half. Schrader and Charel Allen each had seven rebounds as Notre Dame outrebounded the Crusaders 37-22. The Irish reserves, led by LaVere and Allen, who had eight points, outscored Valparaiso's bench, 24-9. With the victory, Notre Dame is off to a 9-1 start for the fourth time in school history. The Irish have held five opponents under 60 points this season, going 5-0 in those games. ND's defense has been stout in its last three wins, allowing just 53.0 ppg to go along with a .309 field goal percentage (50-of-162). Additionally, Notre Dame has had three or more players score in double figures in nine of 10 games this season (all wins). The attendance at the VU game (6,430) was a season high, but that mark will last only one game -- Saturday's contest with No. 1 Tennessee is a sellout (11,418), the third in school history.OUR SCHEDULE THIS WEEK... Back to "Woolworth's Schedule" the 5 and dime" as the Lady Vols will face five opponents during a 10-day stretch. It started with a 75-50 win at Temple (Dec. 28), and continues to a sold-out game at Notre Dame (Dec. 31), a pit stop at home against Old Dominion (Jan. 2), opening the SEC season at South Carolina (Jan. 4) and finishing with UConn in Knoxville on Jan. 7.LADY VOLS ON TV A record 21 Lady Vol regular season games are slated for television this season. Tennessee's game at South Carolina on Jan. 4 will now be televised on CSS. There will be no TV for Old Dominion.ON THIS DAY Tennessee is 2-0 in their history when playing on Dec. 31. The Lady Vols are 0-0 at home, 2-0 on the road, and 0-0 on neutral courts. Last time out on the 31st, the Lady Vols defeated Vanderbilt, 72-70, in Nashville in 1994.LOOKING BACK L ast year at this time, the Lady Vols were 8-3 and had just lost to Rutgers, 65-51, on Dec. 29 in New Brunswick, N.J.UT'S OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER In all games, this is how Tennessee has shot from the field: 50%FG: Princeton (.597), Texas (.549), Temple (.509); 40%FG: Chattanooga (.477), LaTech (.466), GWU (.462), Mich. St. (.460), Stetson (.446), Maryland (.415), Stanford (.413), Gonzaga (.406), 30%FG: none,DEEE ----- FENSE In all games, this is how the opposition has shot from the field: 50%FG: none, 40%FG: Stanford (.481), Texas (.448), Maryland (.434), Gonzaga (.426), 30%FG: LaTech (.385), GWU (.348), Temple and Mich. St. (.333), Chattanooga (.322), 20%FG: Princeton (.293), Stetson (.283)2005-06 WON-LOSS DIFFERENTIAL Wins: +68 (1), +50 (1), +42 (1), +41 (1), +28 (1), +25 (1), +24 (1), +16 (1), +14 (1), +7 (1), +5 (1)BEST STARTS TO A SEASON Currently at 11-0 to start the 2005-06 campaign, this currently ties the fourth best run all-time to open the season. Of the 13 perfect starts to a season (of at least 7 wins), the run was stopped with a loss to a BIG EAST team on four occasions.
GAME REPORT 12 - NOTRE DAME The #12/11-ranked Notre Dame Irish (9-1) will play just its fourth game in the past three weeks-plus and just its second home contest in the last month when the #1-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols (11-0) travel to a sold-out Joyce Center. After winning its first six games of the season, the only blemish on the Irish record was a 65-54 loss at #24/23-ranked Purdue on Dec. 7. Notre Dame also played earlier this week posting a 58-50 win over Valparaiso (5-5) on Dec. 28. UT-NOTRE DAME
NOTRE DAME SERIES I n 16 prior meetings, the Fighting Irish have been unable to come out on top of their contests with Tennessee. In a series that dates back to Nov. 25, 1983, the teams have played only three games that were decided by 10 or fewer points (62-57 on 11/24/84, 71-63 on 12/9/85, and 85-82 on 1/12/92). Other than those three match-ups, UT has dominated the Fighting Irish, winning by margins of 35 (2/14/87), 20 (2/3/88), 55 (2/20/89), 23 (12/3/89), 31 (1/4/93), 35 (1/7/94), 39 (3/17/02) and 24 (11/30/03). The outcomes have been high-scoring affairs, with UT collecting one 100-point, three 90-point and five 80-point games. In three other victories, the Lady Vols have scored 79 and 77 points (twice). The series had alternated away and home games since its inception, but three of the last five match ups have come at neutral sites (Nov. 19, 1996, WNIT, Ruston, La.; Mar. 28, 1997, Final Four, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 28, 2002, Indianapolis, IN).UT AVERAGES VS. UND The Lady Vols have outscored the Fighting Irish on an average of +22.1 ppg -- 82.4 to 60.3 in their 16-game series...Only four returning UT players have seen time against Notre Dame in the series...Shanna Zolman leads current Lady Vols with 9.0 points per game against Notre Dame as well as 4.0 rpg...Tye'sha Fluker is second on the team with 5.5 points per game as the senior post also averages 4.0 boards...Dominique Redding averages 4.0 ppg and 4.0 rpg against the Irish while fellow junior Sidney Spencer has not scored but grabbed two boards in her only meeting with ND.TITLE TIME Tennessee and Notre Dame have combined to win seven NCAA titles. The Lady Vols grabbed 1987, 1989 and 1991 titles and then three straight years from 1996-98 while the Fighting Irish captured the championship in 2001.LADY VOLS VS. IRISH STAT COMPARISON
OUR LAST MEETING VERSUS NOTRE DAME The #3 Tennessee Lady Vols improved its record to 2-0 with an impressive 83-59 victory over #17 Notre Dame on Nov. 30, 2003, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. With the win, the Lady Vols move their all-time record to 16-0 versus the Fighting Irish. UT junior Shyra Ely once again demonstrated why she is considered one of the nation's top collegiate players, as she scored a game-high 20 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists and swiped two steals. The 20-point effort was her second in as many games. Also contributing double-digit point totals were senior Ashley Robinson, sophomore Shanna Zolman and senior Tasha Butts, who collected 14, 13 and 10 points, respectively. Sophomore Tye'sha Fluker just missed scoring double figures as she contributed nine points, seven of which came from the free throw stripe. UT jumped out of the gates early by scoring the first four points of the contest thanks to a Robinson bucket and a long jumper from Butts. Following a Notre Dame layup at the 18:43 mark, UT went on a 14-3 run to push the lead to 18-5. The Lady Vols continued to extend the first half advantage by out-shooting ND 53 percent (17-32) to 39 percent (10-26) and controlling the boards, 21-14, to take a comfortable 45-23 halftime margin. Despite scoring the first five points of the second half, the Irish responded with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 20, 50-30, with 16:32 remaining. However, the score would get no closer as the Lady Vols essentially traded baskets with the Irish for the remainder of the contest. On the afternoon, UT shot 44 percent (29-66) from the field, while ND connected on just 39 percent (24-61) of its shots. The Orange also out-rebounded ND by seven, 48-41. The Irish's 21 turnovers marked the second-consecutive game in which Tennessee had forced its opponent into committing more than 20 miscues, as Chattanooga totaled 26 in the season-opener.VERSUS THE BIG EAST Tennessee has taken on 11 teams from the BIG EAST all-time and sports a 63-19 record. Only three teams have claimed victories over UT - Connecticut (13 times), Cincinnati and Rutgers (three times). Tennessee's last meeting with a BIG EAST opponent came on Mar. 29, 2005 against Rutgers in the championship game of the NCAA Philadelphia Regional where the Lady Vols advanced to the Final Four with a 59-49 victory. The Orange also defeated UConn in Hartford, Conn., last season. The 68-67 win over the Huskies was the first ever win at the Hartford Civic Center for the Lady Vols. The Big Orange has played 11 of the 16 basketball playing schools in the BIG EAST. Tennessee has yet to face Georgetown, Louisville, Seton Hall, South Florida and Syracuse.ON UT'S RADAR SCREEN - OLD DOMINION Old Dominion (2-6 overall), currently with the nation's toughest strength of schedule, lost a heartbreaker on Dec. 29, 2005, as the fifth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels needed overtime against the Lady Monarchs to keep their undefeated record intact as they slipped by with an 88-80 victory in Norfolk, Va. ODU's non-conference schedule comes to a close against top-ranked Tennessee on January 2 in Knoxville, marking the fourth Top Ten team on the schedule for the Lady Monarchs. UNC's Ivory Latta poured in a career-high 33 points. ODU's Tish Lyons led the Lady Monarch with 20 points, tying her career-high. Fellow ODU classmate Shantel Wilson earned her second double-double of her career tying her career-high of 10 points and hauling in a career-high 12 rebounds. ODU held the lead for the majority of the game, as the Tar Heels were only able to establish their first lead of the night with 4:25 left in regulation. They became the first Carolina opponent thus far this season to hold a lead at the half. The Lady Monarchs led 40-37 and had as much as a 13-point first half advantage. In the second stanza, the Tar Heels used a 17-2 run to get back into the game during which Latta scored 10 of her career-high 33 points. Carolina led by five, 64-69, with 3:21 left in regulation but the pesky ODU defense kept the Tar Heels away from their basket as they collected eight unanswered points. The Lady Monarchs held a 72-69 edge with one minute remaining in the second half. With time winding down in regulation, Larkins made her way to the basket to cut ODU's lead down to one. A turnover gave the Tar Heels a chance to regain the lead as ODU was called for an intentional four. UNC's Camille Little went to the line for two shots, making the first to tie the game at 72-72, but missed the second, forcing overtime. In overtime, North Carolina outscored Old Dominion, 16-8, for the win, which saw Latta score eight of those points.THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt is now just seven wins away from the incredible uncharted plateau of 900 career victories. Summitt started the season with 882 wins and now has 893. Tennessee's next seven opponents includes: at Notre Dame, Old Dominion, at South Carolina, Connecticut, Georgia, at Mississippi State and at Vanderbilt.ALL TV, ALL THE TIME There's no excuse not to catch the Lady Vols over the next 18 games. Only two contests will not be televised - Old Dominion (Jan. 2) and at Ole Miss (Feb. 2). All remaining games will be televised.100TH NUMBER ONE RANKING The Associated Press poll of Dec. 26, 2005, marked the 100th #1 ranking all-time for the Lady Vols. UT has produced a 67-20 record when ranked number-one. When ranked #1, the Lady Vols are 31-16 against the top 10 teams and 36-4 against teams ranked in the 11-25 spots in the AP poll.OUR LAST TRIP TO SOUTH BEND - OVER A DECADE AGO Number one-ranked Tennessee recorded its first game over the century mark in the 1993-94 season with a 105-70 win over Notre Dame on Jan. 7, 1994, in South Bend, Ind. In the opening 10 minutes of play, Notre Dame held the lead by as many as six points (an opponent season high at the time) before the Lady Vols took its first lead of the game with 7:22 to go in the first half. The Lady Vols led 36-29 at the half and UND could get no closer than seven points in the second stanza. In fact, after a timeout with 14:00 to go in the game and a seven point UT lead, UT shut the door on the Irish surging out to a 20 point lead in less than four minutes. Six Lady Vols reached double-figures led by Nikki McCray's 20 points. Others in extra digits included: Dana Johnson, Tiffany Woosley and Michelle Marciniak with 12 points, Nikki Caldwell (current Lady Vol assistant coach) with 11 points, and Abby Conklin with 10 points. UT grabbed 20 steals, shot an amazing .767 from the field in the second half (.673 for the game), and tallied 69 second half points - all for season highs.NOTRE DAME-TENNESSEE GAME AT JOYCE CENTER IS SOLD OUT The University of Notre Dame Athletics Ticket Office announced on Dec. 13 that the Dec. 31 women's basketball game between the Irish and Tennessee at the Joyce Center is sold out. The official announcement of the 11,418-seat sellout, the third in program history, comes 19 days prior to tip-off and makes the 2 p.m. (ET) New Year's Eve contest the fastest sellout in the 29-year history of Notre Dame women's basketball. The Irish had two capacity crowds in their first national championship season of 2000-01 - vs. top-ranked Connecticut on Jan. 15, and vs. Georgetown for Senior Night on Feb. 24 - with the latter contest exhausting its ticket allotment 15 days in advance.OLD HOME WEEK Indiana has been a virtual hotbed of athletic talent for the Lady Vols. Senior Shanna Zolman will be making perhaps her final collegiate appearance in the Hoosier State. The senior guard is a former winner of the prestigious Indiana Ms. Basketball award. Former Lady Vol All-American, Shyra Ely (Indianapolis), took home the award for the 2000-01 season, while Zolman (Syracuse) won the trophy for the 2001-02 season. Ely was a two-time Indiana Women's Basketball player of the year while at Ben Davis High School, while Zolman broke the all-time Indiana state scoring record with a career total of 3,085 points. Zolman also led the state in scoring each of her four seasons at Wawasee H.S. while posting a career scoring average of 33.2 points per game. Zolman joins former Lady Vols, Ely, Abby Conkin and April McDivitt as the four all-time players hailing from the Hoosier State.HOME ALONE IN SYRACUSE, INDIANA Don't be surprised if the town of Syracuse, Ind., lets out early today to make the 49.5 mile trek to South Bend, Ind. It would be a safe bet that most of the town's 3,033 citizens will be in attendance at the Joyce Center on the Notre Dame campus to see favorite daughter, Lady Vol senior starting guard Shanna Zolman, take to the court.BACK TO HER OLD STOMPING GROUNDS, TOO Tennessee Lady Vol Strength and Conditioning coach Heather Mason will be on the trip to South Bend. Mason served a five year stint (1998-2003) in the strength and conditioning office at Notre Dame before making the switch to Tennessee.EX OFFICIO MEMBER OF THE BIG EAST T his is BIG EAST week for Tennessee. The Lady Vols kick-off B.E.W. taking on #12/11-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., on Dec. 31 and will then entertain the #8-ranked Connecticut Huskies in Knoxville a week later on Jan. 7. Last season, the Lady Vols played two teams from the BIG EAST in three games defeating Connecticut and splitting with Rutgers.LET'S GO SEE THE CIRCUS Lady Vol basketball has that "circus charm" to it again this season. Already, George Washington, Stanford and Temple (UT's three road games) have posted new attendance records or season high attendance records. The coffers have fared well - ticket prices when UT came to town almost doubled the price of a normal ducat. Notre Dame will be an advance sell-out.REGISTERED 350TH RANKED WIN The victory over #22/21-ranked Temple on Dec. 28 was the Tennessee Lady Vols 350th all-time over a ranked opponent.POINTS WELL TAKEN Where Tennessee scores:
UT averages 33.8 points in the paint (372) Where UT opponents score:
Opp. averages 22.7 points in the paint (250) LADY VOL STREAKS The last time the Lady Vols lost at home was against Duke, 59-57 on Dec. 2, 2004 -- since then, UT has won 17 home games. The last time UT lost on the road was on Feb. 10, 2005 at #1 LSU, since then, UT has won five road games. The last time the Lady Vols lost on a neutral court was against Michigan State, 64-68, in the NCAA semifinal game on April 3, 2005 Since then, UT has won three games on a neutral court.LAST LOSS TO AN UNRANKED TEAM? When is the last time Tennessee lost to an unranked team? That would have been to LSU on Mar. 2, 2002 at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. LSU had been in and out of the Top 25 polls in late January and February. Prior to that, UT's last loss to an unranked team was five years previous (to the day) losing to Auburn on Mar. 2, 1997 at the SEC Tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn.492 GAMES VERSUS RANKED TEAMS Tennessee's game versus #22/21 Temple on Dec. 28, 2005 was the Lady Vols' 492nd all-time versus a ranked team since the inception of the polls in 1976. UT is an amazing 350-142 (.703) versus ranked teams. This year, Tennessee is 5-0 versus ranked teams. In 2004-05, the Lady Vols were 10-5 vs. ranked teams.100 POINT GAMES Since 1974, the Lady Vols have gone over the century mark 71 times. This season, UT has eclipsed 100 points in two games - Princeton 107 and #16/18 Texas, 102. Noteworthy: Tennessee went over 100 points in an NCAA playoff game for the first time ever in 1993-94 with the win over North Carolina A&T, 111-37. The 1987-88 team hit triple digits in seven games leading the NCAA.IN OVERTIME The Lady Vols are 24-12 all-time in overtime games. The most OT games in a year was tied in 2003-04 with four as the Lady Vols went 3-1 in overtime losing to Georgia, 68-66, and defeating Auburn, 68-61, DePaul, 96-89, and Stanford, 70-66. It tied the mark set in 1996-97, when the Lady Vols were 3-1 in overtime contests losing to Georgia, 94-93, and defeating Texas, 68-65, Vanderbilt, 92-79 and LSU, 100-99. UT's 22 points in the OT against Florida (2-3-05), was the most ever scored by the Lady Vols in a single overtime.AN OT STORY Before the Lady Vols piled up four overtime games in the 2003-04 season, OT contests were few and far-in-between. The Jan. 4, 2003, overtime contest with Connecticut, was the first time Tennessee was involved in an extra stanza game since the 1996-97 season when the Lady Vols played a then-record four overtime affairs.UT LEADS IN NCAA ATTENDANCE Once again, the Tennessee Lady Vols top the nation's attendance leaders:
Top Single Game Attendances (Over 8,000)
TOP SPOT - IN BOTH POLLS The Tennessee Lady Vols remained in the No.1 spot in the Associated Press poll on Dec. 26 for the 100th time in Head Coach Pat Summitt's career. The Lady Vols are off to a perfect 10-0 start. In the Dec. 5 AP poll, the Lady Vols were voted #1. It marked the first time since the second poll of the 2004-05 season that Tennessee has held the top spot in women's college hoops. The AP poll, now in its 30th year, celebrated poll number 500 in the first week of this season. Tennessee is on a run of 365 consecutive appearances in the poll. The 13th week of the 1984-85 season marked the last time a Summitt squad was not ranked. The Lady Vols have been unranked only 14 times in 506 polls. Summitt has guided the program to a poll-best 366 top-five appearances. Louisiana Tech, with 279 weeks in the top-five, ranks second. In the Nov. 28 poll, Duke led by seven points even though Tennessee had a 22-21 edge in first-place votes.THE ESPN/USA TODAY POLLING PLACE In the first USA TODAY/ESPN poll of the year on Nov. 1, the Tennessee Lady Vols began the 2005-06 season as the number one ranked team in the country. It marks the 25th time in 30 years that UT has started the season in the top five in the nation.GRUELING STRETCH Traditionally, Tennessee teams take most of its losses in the month of December when Coach Pat Summitt loads up on some tough non-conference opposition to prepare the team for the rigors of the postseason. Last year, the Lady Vol team carried three losses into January following its early season defeats to Texas, Duke and Rutgers.Records over the years including games played through the month of December: DECEMBER SUCCESS The Lady Vols have enjoyed a great deal of success in the month of December over the years. UT has produced a 165-42 all-time record during the 12th month of the year. The Lady Vols are 54-10 at home, 64-23 away and 47-9 at neutral sites.MAKING THE GRADE Six Lady Vol basketball players earned Dean's List honors for the just completed fall semester. Sophomore Nicky Anosike led the way with a 3.88 GPA and was joined on the honor roll by Tye'sha Fluker (3.75 GPA), Sidney Spencer (3.50 GPA), Shanna Zolman (3.25 GPA), Alexis Hornbuckle (3.00 GPA) and Lindsey Moss (3.00 GPA). Overall, the cumulative average GPA of the team was 3.03.
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