University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOLS TAKE ON SOUTH CAROLINA ON THURSDAY NIGHT
February 16, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2005
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| Tennessee Lady Volunteers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks
RADIO Syrrus: Channel 111 TV LIVE STATS RANKINGS
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THE GAME The #6/6-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols (19-4, 9-1 SEC) will face the South Carolina Gamecocks (6-18, 0-10 SEC) for the second time this season. On Jan. 27, the Lady Vols knocked off the Gamecocks, 68-53, in Columbia, S.C. Tonight, the Lady Vols will be entertaining USC in Knoxville and attempting to extend their 59 consecutive SEC home game winning streak. The last SEC loss at home was to Georgia on Dec. 8, 1996, 94-93 (OT). LADY VOLS AT A GLANCE This is the Lady Vols' 31st season under Head Coach Pat Summitt...She has compiled a staggering 871-171 overall record...Needs just 9 wins to become the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history...Her 2003-04 squad finished as the NCAA runner-up with a 31-4 record...UT also is the seven-time-consecutive defending SEC regular season champion, and has been picked by both the media and the coaches to finish first in this year's SEC race as well. UT returns seven letterwinners and welcomes eight newcomers...Rookie Alex Fuller (Shelbyville, Tenn.) will redshirt this season after undergoing knee surgery in October...Tonight, the Lady Vols will be going for win number 20 - which would give UT coach Pat Summitt 29 consecutive seasons of at least 20 wins... Tennessee's senior trio of Shyra Ely, Brittany Jackson and Moore have fashioned a 50-2 overall record in four seasons in SEC league games...Until the loss to LSU on Feb. 10, their only previous loss came at the hands of Vanderbilt, 76-59, on Feb. 2, 2002, as rookies...UT might display another new line-up...Against Vandy, UT tried their eighth different line-up of the season starting three guards and two centers against the Commodores... QUICK LOOK AT THE GAMECOCKS In its last outing on Feb. 13, South Carolina dropped a 66-36 decision to top-ranked LSU in Columbia. With the loss, Carolina dipped to 6-18 overall and 0-10 in the SEC. Including the LSU game, USC has faced the No. 1 team in the nation six losing times. Carolina hung tough in the first half, leading 17-16 with 5:31 remaining after a bucket from Stacy Booker. From that point, however, LSU went on a 10-2 run to close out the half, 26-19. LSU's 10-2 run to close out the half became a 34-2 run once the second half started, as USC was held without a field goal for the first 8:23 and LSU rattled off 24 unanswered points. USC's Angela Hunter broke the ice when she knocked down a jumper that brought the score to 50-21 with 11:37 remaining. Stacy Booker scored a team-high 15 points for USC. South Carolina was again without the services of starting point guard Lea Fabbri, who remained in Croatia to be with her father who is ill. Her return date is uncertain. The South Carolina Gamecocks (6-18, 0-10 SEC) will be looking for their first 2004-05 Southeastern Conference win on Thursday night against the #6 Tennessee Lady Vols (19-4, 9-1 SEC). A young, slumping Carolina team has now lost 16 consecutive games against SEC opposition as well as its last 12 SEC road games. OUR SCHEDULE THIS WEEK The #5-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols continue their Thursday-Sunday SEC schedule entertaining South Carolina on Feb. 17 and traveling to Arkansas on Feb. 20. LADY VOLS ON TV Seventeen Lady Vol regular season games are slated for television this season. Upcoming games on TV: South Carolina (CSS). UT is 10-4 in TV games. ON THIS DAY Tennessee is 8-3 in their history when playing on Feb. 17. The Lady Vols are 5-1 at home, 2-1 on the road, and 1-1 on neutral courts. The last time out on the 17th, the Lady Vols defeated Mississippi State, 70-49, on the road in 2000. LOOKING BACK Last year at this time, the Lady Vols (21-2) had just defeated Vanderbilt on the road, 94-88. THE COUNTDOWN - 9 TO GO Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt is just nine wins away from passing Dean Smith (879) as the winningest coach in NCAA basketball. Summitt now has 871 wins. SUMMITT 'S TELECONFERENCE -- Coach Pat Summitt's regularly scheduled weekly teleconference will be on Feb.23, 2005, at 11:00 a.m. Media will be notified of the dial-in number via fax and email. USC SERIES Tennessee leads the series with South Carolina, 34-2. The UT Media Relations Office recognizes all recorded games played with newspaper accounts and/or box scores. The series with USC indicates a win and a loss pre-dating the Pat Summitt years yielding a 34-2 record. The Summitt era has only found UT on the losing end to the Gamecocks once -- Jan. 23, 1980 in Columbia, 56-52. It happened when the Carolina Pep Band positioned itself behind the UT bench and played its amplified drums, electric guitars, etc. for all 40 minutes of the game. UT huddles, held practically at the free throw line, did little good. Shortly thereafter, a ban on bands playing during the game and disallowing electronic amplification, was instituted by the AIAW. HEADING INTO THE GAME... UT and USC meet tonight for the 37th time in the series. The Lady Vols have recorded 30 consecutive victories over the Gamecocks dating back to the 1979-80 season when UT assistant coach Holly Warlick was the starting Tennessee point guard. AVERAGE SCORE The average score of the UT-South Carolina games during the Lady Vols 30-game winning streak over the Gamecocks is 84.9 (UT) and 61.9 (USC) - a +33.0 margin. OUR LAST MEETING WITH SOUTH CAROLINA After trailing by as many as 10 points in the first half, the No. 5/6-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols rallied back to defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks, 68-53, at the Colonial Center on Jan. 27, 2005. The victory extended UT's SEC regular-season winning streak to 39 games. Additionally, the Big Orange has now claimed the last 30 meetings with USC. While it was Tennessee that got on the scoreboard first following a jumper by Shyra Ely, the Gamecocks took advantage of five early Lady Vol turnovers and its poor shooting (2-of-9 to begin the game) to take a 14-4 lead with 13:45 remaining in the opening stanza. The Orange and White answered with a 7-0 spurt to cut the margin to just three, 14-11, but South Carolina pushed the lead back to eight points, 19-11, by the third media timeout. However, the Lady Vols rattled off an 11-0 run, capped by a Loree Moore jumper, and took a 27-24 lead into the locker room. After the intermission, UT had trouble finding its offensive rhythm, hitting just 3-of-10 shots to open the half, as USC pulled ahead, 37-36, with 13:55 showing. Just as it seemed like the contest might go down to the wire, Tennessee exploded on a 24-3 run to break the game open and led by 20 points, 60-40. During the big scoring outburst, Brittany Jackson connected on three treys and Shanna Zolman tallied eight points. South Carolina would briefly cut the margin to 13 points but was unable to get any closer the rest of the way as UT cruised to the victory. The Lady Vols were led by four players in double figures: Ely (16), Tye'sha Fluker (15), Jackson (15) and Zolman (13). Additionally, Fluker grabbed 10 rebounds, earning her second double-double in the last three games. UT AND USC RANKED MEETINGS IN 2004-05 The Lady Vols game against #21/20 Vanderbilt marked the Lady Vols (6-4) 10th game versus a ranked team this season. Meanwhile South Carolina (0-4) will be meeting its fifth ranked opponent. UT defeated #15 DePaul, 78-63, #2 Stanford, 70-67, #15/14 UConn, 68-67, #17/15 Vandy, 79-65 #18/20 Georgia, 77-70, and #21/20 Vandy (again), 72-63, but lost to #4 Texas, 74-59, #10/9 Duke, 59-57, #24 Rutgers, 65-51 and #1 LSU, 68-58. South Carolina is 0-4 against teams ranked in the top 25 this season. The Gamecocks have lost to #16/12 Vanderbilt, 88-43, #5/6 Tennessee, 68-53, #18/18 Georgia, 67-51 and #1 LSU, 66-36. CAREER STATS VS. SOUTH CAROLINA Two Lady Vols register a double-figure career average against USC. Junior Shanna Zolman is the leading scorer at 13.2 ppg, followed by Shyra Ely at 12.0 ppg and a team-high 8.0 rpg. Lady Vol junior Tye;sha Fluker recorded her second career double-double with a 15 point and 10 rebound effort in the first meeting this season (Jan. 27) between UT and USC in Columbia. LOOKING AHEAD TO ARKANSAS Arkansas (15-8 overall, 3-7 SEC) is in action tonight at #22/20 Vanderbilt (17-6, 6-4), playing one of their four remaining SEC games for the 2004-05 season. On Sunday, Feb. 20, the Tennessee Lady Vols (19-4, 9-1 SEC) travel to Fayetteville and will face Arkansas for the second time this season. Tennessee defeated Arkansas, 72-54, on Jan. 13 in Knoxville. In UA's last game, sophomore Sarah Pfeifer hit her career high for the second game in a row as the University of Arkansas defeated Georgia Tech, 71-59, in the opening game of the Russell Athletic Shootout at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. Pfeifer had 24 points as the Lady Razorbacks never trailed to the Yellow Jackets, but also never had a comfortable lead until the closing moments of the game. Pfeifer got going quickly as she hit the first six points for Arkansas and forced consecutive turnovers from Tech's post players. Arkansas had four starters in double-figures with sophomore Kristin Peoples scoring 14 points, nine of them at the free throw line as Tech tried to foul its way back into the game late. Sophomore Danielle Allen had 12 points, mostly in the second half. Opening the second half neither team could create offensive consistency until Arkansas got hot hitting consecutive lay-ups for a 35-32 lead. Allen and Pfeifer pushed Arkansas to a nine-point lead, 46-37, as Tech managed only two field goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half. A Tech intentional foul on Brittney Vaughn with 1:48 to play which allowed Arkansas to keep the lead 62-55. For the game, Arkansas hit 65.4% from the line, but in the second half the Lady'Backs sank 15-of-21 for 71.4%. Arkansas also forced 19 turnovers out of the Yellowjackets, converting them into 24 points. NEARING RUPP'S RECORD Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt (871-171) has four regular season games remaining, a possible three in the SEC Tournament and who knows in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. More than likely, she should catch Adolph Rupp (876-190), second all-time in NCAA Division 1 coaches' victories, in the next couple of weeks. LAST TIME IN KNOXVILLE VERSUS USC The top-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols kept their perfect SEC record intact with a 72-58 win over South Carolina in front of 18,453 at Thompson-Boling Arena on Feb. 8, 2004. The victory was UT's second against the Gamecocks during the 2003-04 season. Tennessee (19-2, 8-0) has now won 52 consecutive conference home games. After allowing the first basket of the game, the Lady Vols rattled off nine straight points for a 9-2 lead. Junior Shyra Ely and sophomore Shanna Zolman provided all of the offense early as the pair combined to score the first 15 points. While South Carolina would cut the margin to just two, UT crashed the boards hard and connected on a number of second-chance points to extend its advantage to 11 with just under eight minutes left in the opening frame. The Gamecocks made a number of small runs but could not close the gap before the half, as Pat Summitt's squad went to the locker room ahead, 38-30. In the first session, the Lady Vols shot 38.9 percent from the field, while USC checked in at a 44.8 percent clip. However, UT dominated the glass and held a 26-14 rebounding advantage. Zolman was the leading scorer at the break with 12 points, but she would not score in the second half. In what appeared to be a reverse of the opening minutes of the first half, Tennessee scored the opening basket following intermission only to have USC erupt on a 12-2 run to even the score at 42. Unfazed by the seeming shift in momentum, UT went on a decisive 16-0 run over the next six minutes, energized by the defensive play of senior LaToya Davis, to take a commanding 58-42 lead. The Gamecocks answered with a 6-0 spurt but were not able to get closer than nine points the rest of the way. In addition to Zolman, three other Lady Vols recorded double-digit point totals: Ely (12), Tasha Butts (10) and Tye'sha Fluker (10). Ely also grabbed 12 rebounds for her second straight double-double and the seventh of the season. Davis also filled up the stat sheet with seven points, seven rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks. On the afternoon, Tennessee connected on just 37.8 percent of its shots. Despite being out-shot, UT totaled a season-high 58 rebounds, with amazing 27 more than the Gamecocks. WELCOME HOME NUMBER 3 (South Carolina SID Gavin Lang reported on Feb. 16 that USC assistant and former Lady Vol star Michelle Marciniak will likely miss Thursday's game in Knoxville to be in Macungie, Pennsylvania with her father, Whitey, who is experiencing complications following surgery. Her return date to the Gamecock bench is uncertain.) Tonight on the Garnet and Black South Carolina sideline is former Lady Vol Michelle Marciniak. Marciniak, an assistant coach for the Gamecocks, wore #3 for the Orange & White. A 5'9" guard, Marciniak played for UT 1993-96 and averaged 10.2 ppg and 2.7 rpg for her career. She was the MVP of the 1996 NCAA Championships when UT captured title #4. SPEAKING OF SCORING...OR LACK THEREOF The Lady Vols have flirted with scoring almost 70 points per game all season long. Following the game with #21/20 Vanderbilt on Feb. 13, Tennessee's per game average rose to 70.5 ppg. In Pat's Summitt's 31 years at the helm of the Lady Vols, only two teams have failed to average at least 70 points per game. In consecutive seasons, the 1983-84 (69.2) and 1984-85 (69.8) teams fell short of the 70.0 ppg mark. THE TENNESSEE LADY VOLS - GREATEST OF ALL-TIME Now on newsstands is Street & Smith's "Greatest College Basketball Programs of All Time." The publication ranked the Top 10 women's teams and the Top 100 men's teams. Tennessee received the top honors for the best women's program of all-time followed by: 2. Louisiana Tech, 3. Connecticut, 4. ODU, 5. Stanford, 6. Texas, 7. Montana, 8. Virginia, 9. SF Austin, and 10. Texas Tech. LADY VOLS HIT 50% It took 23 games but the 2004-05 Tennessee Lady Vols finally had a game where they connected on 50% from the field. In the second meeting with Vanderbilt (2-13-05), Tennessee was 27-54 from the field for a perfect .500 shooting day in the 72-63 victory. UT'S OFFENSIVE ACCURACY In all games, this is how Tennessee has shot from the field: 60%: none 50%FG: .500 (Vandy2) 40%FG: .486 (Ole Miss), .483 (Vandy1), .481 (UTC), .468 (GWU & Auburn), .456 (LaTech), .441 (TCU), .436 (Ark1), .435 (DePaul), .418 (Florida), 30%FG: .397 (UConn), .393 (Georgia), .391 (SoCarolina1), .373 (Stanford, N.C. State), .370 (ODU), .369 (Kentucky), .323 (Temple), .329 (Texas); .310 (LSU) 20%FG: .280 (Duke), .278 (Rutgers). DEEE ----- FENSE In all games, this is how the opposition has shot from the field: 60% FG: .604 (Texas), 50%FG: .581 (Auburn), .520 (LSU) 40%FG: .490 (UConn), .473 (Stanford), .456 (Vandy1), .448 (Georgia), .446 (Vandy2), .426 (LaTech & Florida),30%FG: .393 (Rutgers), .390 (Duke), .373 (N.C. State), .333 (Ark1, Temple), .321 (GWU), .311 (SoCarolina1), .310 (Ole Miss), .300 (TCU), 20%FG: .299 (ODU), .288 (Kentucky), .265 (DePaul), 10%: .135 (UTC) SENIORS AND RANKED TEAMS The Tennessee senior class of Shyra Ely, Brittany Jackson and Loree Moore have faced 68 ranked teams out of 130 career games - 52% of their collegiate contests have been spent playing against the best in women's basketball. Following the game with #21/20 Vanderbilt, the senior class has compiled a 51-17 record against ranked teams winning 75% of the time. Overall, this senior class is 112-18 in all games (.861) for their Tennessee tenure including the current 19-4 mark. 2004-05 EIGHT DIFFERENT LINE-UPS BUT NOT MUSICAL STARTERS...YET In 2001-02, the rookie season for Shyra Ely, Brittany Jackson and Loree Moore, Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt started 17 different line-ups in 34 games. In the final 19 games she started 12 different line-ups. The only common denominator in all 34 games was junior guard Kara Lawson who started every contest. The three rookies all had their chances in the starting line-up at various times in the season. There were two long-tenured starting five combos - four games. In games 1-3 and 9, Shyra Ely, Tasha Butts, Michelle Snow, Kara Lawson and April McDivitt. In games 4-5 and 14-15, Ely, Gwen Jackson, Snow, Lawson and Butts. AGAINST THE SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE Tennessee owns a 344-54 record all-time record vs. 12 teams from the Southeastern Conference. The Lady Vols maintain a winning record against every team in the SEC. UT IS AMAZING AT HOME VERSUS THE SEC Since Tennessee began contesting games with Southeastern Conference opponents, the Lady Vols have produced a 143-9 record in all games played at home. Only four SEC teams have ever managed a victory over the Lady Vols in Knoxville - Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky and Ole Miss. Georgia has won three games on UT's turf while Auburn, Kentucky and Ole Miss have registered two wins each. Georgia is the only team to defeat UT at home in the 1990s - the Lady Bulldogs turned the trick in 1991 and 1996. No SEC team has defeated UT at home in the 21st century. WOW--11 SEASONS OF AT LEAST 10 SEC VICTORIES In the win over LSU in the 2004 regular season, Tennessee claimed its 14th SEC victory of the year. The Lady Vols have now registered double-digit victories in conference play an incredible 11 times. Since the 1991-92 season when SEC play expanded, the Lady Vols have won at least 10 games in the following years: 1992-10 games, 1993-11 games, 1994-11 games, 1995-11 games, 1998-14 games, 1999-13 games, 2000-13 games, 2001- 14 games, 2002- 13 games, 2003- 14 games and 2004-14 games. SNAPPED AT 42 CONSECUTIVE SEC REGULAR SEASON WINS With the loss to LSU on Feb. 10, 2005, the Lady Vols 42-game consecutive regular season SEC win streak was halted. Until the loss to LSU, the Lady Vols had not lost an SEC regular season game since at Vanderbilt on Feb. 2, 2002, 76-59. 59 CONSECUTIVE SEC HOME WINS With the victory over Vandy on Feb. 13, 2005,, the Lady Vols have now won 59 consecutive SEC home games. The last SEC loss at home was to Georgia on Dec. 8, 1996, 94-93 (OT).
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