University of Tennessee Athletics
West Virginia Game Preview
November 20, 2007 | Women's Basketball
THE GAME
It???s a special night for Lady Vol senior Alexis Hornbuckle as she returns home to Charleston, WV with the #1-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols (3-0) as they take on the #16/20-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers (3-0) at the Charleston Civic Center.
FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGS FOR ALEXIS
Alexis Hornbuckle never lost at the Charleston Civic Center as a prepster (South Charleston H.S.). The 2004 WBCA High School Player of the Year won four state titles.
QUAN IS COOKING
The Lady Vol entourage will be treated to home cookin??? on Tuesday night in Charleston as Quan and Jerome Hornbuckle will feed the group.
LADY VOLS AT A GLANCE
This is the Lady Vols??? 34th season under Head Coach Pat Summitt???She has compiled a staggering 950-180 overall record??? Is just 50 wins away from a remarkable 1,000 career victories???Collected her 900th coaching win with a 80-68 decision over #19-ranked Vanderbilt on Jan. 19, 2006??? She passed Dean Smith (879 wins) for most NCAA collegiate basketball wins of all-time with a 75-54 victory over Purdue on Mar. 22, 2005 ???Her 2006-07 squad was crowned as the NCAA Champions producing the program???s seventh title???UT fi nished with a 34-3 overall record and were also the SEC Champions??? This season, UT returned seven letterwinners and welcomed a talented quartet of rookies???The 2007-08 season marks the Lady Vol debut for freshmen, #5 Angie Bjorklund, a 6-0 forward/guard from Spokane, Wash., #20 Sydney Smallbone, a 5-10 guard from Granger, Ind., #21 Vicki Baugh, a 6-4 center from Sacramento, Calif., and #52 Kelley Cain, a 6-6 center from Atlanta, Ga., who will all see their fi rst action in the Orange and White this season.
OUR SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
This week, the Lady Vols will travel to Charleston, W.V., on Nov. 21 to meet the #16/20th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers in the Alexis Hornbuckle homecoming game. UT has a rare Thanksgiving break and won???t play again until Monday, Nov. 26 when Louisiana Tech travels to Knoxville. After that, it will be another week before #5/6- ranked North Carolina visits Thompson-Boling Arena on Dec. 2.
ON THIS DAY IN LADY VOL BASKETBALL HISTORY
UT is 7-0 in games played on Nov. 21. The Lady Vols are 4-0 at home, 2-0 on the road and 1-0 on neutral courts. The last time out on Nov. 21, the Lady Vols defeated Chattanooga, 92-50, at home in 2005.
LOOKING BACK
Last year at this time, the Lady Vols were 3-0 on the season after defeating #11 Arizona State, 83-74, in Tucson on Nov. 19.
LADY VOLS ON TV
A record 26 (of 29) Lady Vol regular season games are slated for television this season. Upcoming TV games include: West Virginia (WV PBS), Louisiana Tech (Sport- South) and North Carolina (ESPN2). Games versus Arkansas and Kentucky in Knoxville will be televised on myvlt2 Knoxville and WZTV Nashville. Stations in Chattanooga and Memphis may be added. The UT is 3-0 on TV this season.
SEASON TICKET UPDATE
As of Nov. 10, 2007, the Lady Vols had sold a record 11,018 full season ticket packages and 466 Coca-Cola Six Pack packages (six games: UNC, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Rutgers, LSU and Florida). With the new capacity of 21,678 at Thompson-Boling Arena, more than one-half of the tickets have been already sold to UT???s 17 home games.
THE 4-1-1 ON THE MOUNTAINEERS
In their last game before facing Tennessee, #19/20-ranked West Virginia defeated Cornell, 93-52, on Nov. 18 in a non-conference contest at the WVU Coliseum. It marked the fi rst-ever meeting between the two schools as the Mountaineers (3-0) placed three players in double fi gures scoring. Senior Olayinka Sanni scored a game-best 22 points on 9- 13 shooting while senior guard Meg Bulger came off the bench to score 21 points, including four 3-pointers. Senior forward Chakhia Cole netted 17 points, reaching her 1,000th career point in her 100th career and consecutive start. The Big Red (1-2) jumped out to a 12-4 lead with 16:17 left in the fi rst quarter on four 3-point baskets, three by Cornell leading scorer, Kayleen Fitzsimmons, who fi nished the contest with 15 points. The Mountaineers used a 24-4 run over the next nine minutes to take a 28-16 lead, a lead it would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. During the run, Bulger connected on three 3-pointers. For the game, WVU shot a solid 50.0% from the fi eld (33-66) while holding the Big Red to 32.7% (17-52). WVU also out-rebounded Cornell, 46-26, and forced 21 turnovers. All 14 Mountaineers saw action with 12 players scoring at least two points.
LAST MEETING WITH WVU
Candace Parker scored 19 points and Alexis Hornbuckle added 18 to lift # 5-ranked Tennessee to a 66-51 win over West Virginia on Dec. 20, 2006, in Knoxville. With the win, UT remains perfect against the Mountaineers (5- 0) in its fi rst meeting with the visitors since 1986. UT Coach Pat Summitt improves to 923-178 all-time and her 2006-07 squad moved to 10-1 with the win. Parker dunked for the third time during the 2006-07 season and the fi fth of her career. She popped her jersey after the slam, drawing a technical foul as the Lady Vols were building a big lead in the fi rst half. She had 13 points and eight boards by halftime and fi nished with 19 and 10, respectively, for her second consecutive double-double. Hornbuckle picked it up in the second half, scoring 11 points after the break. She connected on a career high four three pointers on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. The Mountaineers (7-5), who led only once after scoring the fi rst basket of the game, cut the lead to eight early in the second half. But Shannon Bobbitt hit one of her two three-pointers of the game and Parker scored to push the lead to 40-27. Ranisha White led West Virginia with a career-high 16 points, while Olayinka Sanni had 10. LaQuita Owens added nine points and nine rebounds. The Mountaineers had 24 turnovers off of 11 Lady Vol thefts and shot only 35 percent (19-of-54) from the fi eld. Tennessee jumped out to a 20-4 lead capped by Parker???s dunk with 12:56 remaining. The Lady Vols went up by as many as 20, but West Virginia had a 7-0 run that made it 27-16 with 6:59 before halftime. Tennessee led by nine (32- 23) going into the break. Lady Vols Nicky Anosike had nine rebounds and Cait McMahan tied a personal best with four assists.
UT & WVU LINKED BY DUNKS
Tennessee???s Candace Parker might be the latest woman in collegiate basketball to dunk but West Virginia???s Georgeann Wells (1983- 86) became the fi rst women???s college basketball player to dunk in a collegiate game when she threw one down against Charleston, almost 22 years ago to the day (Dec. 21, 1984). Fittingly, Parker celebrated Wells??? dunking anniversary with one of her own against West Virginia on Dec. 20, 2006, in Knoxville. Parker, then an All-American sophomore took off after a steal and jammed a one-handed dunk with 12:54 to go in the fi rst half. It was Parker??? s fi fth dunk of her career. Her fi rst dunk as a sophomore was in the season-opener at home versus Chattanooga on Nov. 12, 2006. She followed that with a dunk against #11 Stanford on Nov. 24, 2006.
BIRD ALMOST A MOUNTAINEER
Lady Vol senior Alberta Auguste originally signed with West Virginia coming out of high school. Instead, Auguste attended Central Florida Community College and inked with the Lady Vols in the spring of 2006.
UT NOW A BIG EAST MEMBER, SORTA
The Tennessee Lady Vols will be a southern extension member of the BIG EAST Conference once again this season. UT will play West Virginia (Nov. 21), at DePaul (Jan. 2), at Notre Dame (Jan 5) and entertain Rutgers in Knoxville (Feb. 11).
UT VS. THE BIG EAST
Tennessee has taken on 11 of the 16 teams in the BIG EAST Conference all-time and sports a 71-19 (.789) record. Only three teams have claimed victories over UT ??? UConn has topped Tennessee 13 times while Cincinnati and Rutgers have defeated UT on three occasions each.
The UT-WVU Series
Tennessee leads 5-0
| DATE | UT/OPP RANK | SITE | W/L | SCORE |
| 11/22/82 | 4/nr | H | W | 93-70 |
| 11/19/83 | 5/nr | N38 | W | 52-47 |
| 1/12/85 | H | W | 61-59 | |
| 1/4/86 | 11/nr | A | W | 74-58 |
| 12/20/06 | 5/nr | H | W | 66-51 |
THE SERIES WITH WVU
This marks just the sixth meeting between the two schools (Tennessee leads 5-0) dating back to the 1982-83 season. The series was originally started to give Lady Vol All-American Mary Ostrowski an opportunity to play in her home state during her Tennessee career. Ostrowski, who hailed from Parkersburg, West Virginia, helped to lead the Lady Vols to three Final Four appearances during her tenure, 1980-84. During Ostrowski???s senior year, Tennessee traveled to her hometown of Parkersburg to face WVU. The series was renewed last season to give current West Virginia native and Lady Vol Alexis Hornbuckle (Charleston) an opportunity to return to her home state.
FIRST ALL RANKED MEETING
Tonight???s game will mark the fi rst time in the series that both teams will be ranked.
LADY VOLS HAILING FROM THE WILD AND WONDERFUL STATE
Three Lady Vols have hailed from the state of West Virginia during Coach Pat Summitt???s tenure at Tennessee. Mary Ostrowski, a 6-2 post from Parkersburg and Parkersburg Catholic H.S., was Tennessee???s fi rst bona fi de #1 recruit in the nation. She fi nished her four years with 1,729 points and 996 rebounds. Amy Gamble, a 5-10 forward from Glendale and John Marshall H.S., played in 42 games at Tennessee from 1982-84. UT???s current West Virginian is Alexis Hornbuckle, a 5-11 senior guard from Charleston and South Charleston H.S.
WILL BE A NEUTRAL GAME TONIGHT
Tonight???s game will be considered a neutral contest under NCAA guidelines. This will mark the second time the Lady Vols have played a neutral game versus West Virginia in their home state. In 1984, UT faced WVU at Parkersburg Catholic H.S. Tennessee???s only trip to Morgantown was on Jan. 4, 1986, when #11 UT def. WVU, 74-58.
LADY VOL CONNECTIONS
When Tennessee travels to play West Virginia on Nov. 21, they will be reuniting with former Lady Vol All-American Semeka Randall who is in her fi rst season on the WVU staff. It???s been a busy week running into former UT players and staffers. On Sunday Nov. 18 when the Lady Vols faced Texas, former longtime Lady Vol associate head coach Mickey DeMoss was on the sidelines as a Longhorn assistant coach. Last week in Tampa, Fla., at the ESPNU Invitational, the Lady Vols bumped into former UT player Shalon Pillow, an assistant coach at South Florida, and Duke???s Al Brown, also a former assistant coach at Tennessee.
PARKER--SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tennessee junior Candace Parker was tabbed for SEC Player of the Week honors on Nov. 19. Last week, she led the top-rated Lady Vols to victories over #8 Oklahoma and #21 Texas to keep her team undefeated on the season. The Naperville, Ill., native averaged 24.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per contest in the two games against. Parker registered 28 points, 15 rebounds and fi ve blocks against Oklahoma on Nov. 15. In the Texas game on Nov. 18, the 6-4, she scored the fi rst 11 points of the game for Tennessee. This marks the sixth time Parker has earned SEC Player of the Week honors and the 10th time overall that she has garnered a weekly award from the SEC. She picked up SEC Freshman of the Week on four occasions during her rookie campaign in 2005-06.
SUMMITT HAS JUST 50 TO GO
UT head basketball coach Pat Summitt is now just 50 wins away from 1,000 career victories.
THIRD RANKED TEAM IN A ROW
The meeting at #16/20th-ranked West Virginia will mark the Lady Vols third consecutive contest versus a ranked opponent this season. UT has also played #9/8 Oklahoma and #21/22-ranked Texas.
BUMPS AND BRUISES
Several Lady Vols have been nicked up already this season and qualify for ???Moshak???s Medical Moments.??? Alberta Auguste-Calf contusion in preseason; missed both exhibition games. Kelley Cain- Concussion in preseason; some knee soreness and swelling. Missed UTC, Oklahoma and Texas games. Cait McMahan-rehabing from articular cartilage surgery on June 6. Redshirt. Candace Parker-nursing a sore shoulder -- banged up in the USA game.
KEEP AN EYE ON REBOUNDING
The past two seasons, the Lady Vols have reset new all-time low rebounding marks. The 2007 NCAA Champs hold the distinction as the worst UT rebounding team of all-time with just 38.4 rpg. Oklahoma had a fi eld day on the boards against the Lady Vols outrebounding UT, 44-33. UT is averaging an anemic and new alltime low 35.3 rpg thru three games and giving up 38.0 rpg to the opposition.
GET THIS...
It???s a fact that Tennessee has produced some of the greatest players ever in women???s collegiate basketball. It???s a little known fact that there has only been one double-fi gure rebounder in the history of the program -- Olympian and Kodak All- American Trish Roberts. Roberts hauled in 14.2 rpg (467 total) in her only season as a Lady Vol in 1976-77. She also claimed scoring honors with 29.9 ppg (987 points).
PARKER IS A FOUL MAGNET
UT junior All-American Candace Parker continues to be the player the opposition loves to foul. This season, she has already been on the receiving end of 25 of the opposition???s 53 total fouls committed against the Lady Vols. Oklahoma is the leader in the club house with a record high 14 fouls committed while trying to stop Parker. Last season, in the bizarre stat category, Parker attracted 216 fouls from opponents (including a season- high 12 called hacks in one contest) and 32% of the total 677 fouls committed by the opposition against UT in 2006-07.
DEPAUL GAME IS SOLD-OUT!
All 3,000 tickets for the Tennessee vs. DePaul game at McGrath Arena in Chicago on Jan. 2, 2008, are sold-out.
Ranking: #1/#1
Record: 3-0 (0-0 SEC)
Coach:
Pat Summitt- 34th (950-180)
Roster
Coaches
Schedule
Stats
Recent Results:
def. Texas, 92-67
Upcoming Games:
vs. La. Tech 11/26 - 7:00 p.m. SportsSouth
Ranking: #16
Record: 3-0 (0-0 Big East)
Coach:
Mike Carey- 21st (398-180)
Roster
Coaches
Schedule
Stats
Recent Results:
def. Cornell, 93-52
Overall: UT is 5-0
In Knoxville: UT is 3-0
Away: UT is 1-0
Neutral: UT is 1-0
Last Meeting: 12/20/06 in Knoxville
UT def. WV, 66-51
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Thompson-Boling Arena & Assembly Center
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