Sunday, November 28, 2004

(1) Tennessee 52, Temple 48

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A poor shooting game will likely knock Tennessee out of the No. 1 ranking. A second bad showing almost cost the Lady Vols more.

Shanna Zolman scored five of her 10 points in the final minutes and Shyra Ely made two free throws with 11.9 seconds left, helping Tennessee beat Temple 52-48 Sunday.

The Lady Vols (4-1) lost 74-59 at Texas on Thanksgiving Day after shooting 33 percent from the field.

They shot 32 percent on Sunday and narrowly avoided their first lost to an unranked team in Thompson-Boling Arena since its opening in 1987.

``We find a way to win. It certainly wasn't pretty, but I'll take an ugly win,'' Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. ``It looks like we've done that a few times already this year.''

Tennessee took almost five minutes to score its first points and trailed in the first half until Alexis Hornbuckle scored on a driving layup at the halftime buzzer.

Temple (2-2) held the lead four times in the second half, and took a 45-43 lead with 4:44 left when Ari Moore made two free throws.

Zolman made a 3-pointer to give Tennessee the lead for good, and the Lady Vols hung on.

After Zolman made two free throws, Sidney Spencer scored to give Tennessee a five-point lead.

But Temple closed within two points on a 3-pointer by Cynthia Jordan with 1:56 remaining, but the Owls didn't score the rest of the way.

Temple missed two more shots with less than 30 seconds remaining, and Moore fouled Ely going for a rebound at the end.

``I felt like I needed to do something because I wasn't producing offensively,'' Ely said.

Ely, who finished with eight points, was replaced in the starting lineup by Brittany Jackson after scoring just four points in the loss at Texas.

Sunday's game was another indication Tennessee might not be the best team in the nation. The Lady Vols were outrebounded 42-39.

Their defense finally had an impact in the second half, and Temple was held to 33 percent shooting.

Jordan led Temple with 14 points. Moore scored 13 and Candice Dupree added eight.

The Owls, who are picked to win the Atlantic 10 again this season, were not intimidated in their first game against Tennessee. Coach Dawn Staley, whose Virginia team lost to the Lady Vols in the 1991 national championship game, argued calls, and the players jumped off the bench and yelled every time their teammates made a good play.

``Our kids put their hearts on the line and almost came up with probably one of the biggest upsets in women's basketball at this point,'' Staley said. ``It's not often you can come to a historical place like Knoxville and get a win. I'm proud of our team.''

Tennessee finished a frantic first half with a 13-2 run in the final 3:50 to take its first lead of the game.

The Owls jumped out to a 9-0 lead and led by as many as 10 twice in the first half.

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