No. 1 Tennessee 64, N.C. State 54

Pat Summitt Jimmy V 11-21-2004, originally uploaded by Mrs_Skeffington.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Shyra Ely and her Tennessee teammates watched Connecticut lose in the opener of the Jimmy V Women's Classic. That gave them all the motivation they needed against North Carolina State.

``It was an ugly win, but I'm just glad we were able to pull through,'' she said.

Brittany Jackson drew fouls twice in the final minutes with the shot clock winding down and made four free throws, helping No. 1 Tennessee hold off the Wolfpack 64-54 Sunday in the Jimmy V Women's Classic.

Ely scored 15 points and Alexis Hornbuckle added 11 for the Lady Vols, and Jackson finished with nine. Tiffany Stansbury led the Wolfpack with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

``We certainly give credit to N.C. State,'' Ely said. ``But we have to play our basketball, and we did a great job of stepping up.''

No. 9 North Carolina beat the three-time defending national champ Huskies 71-65 earlier, handing fourth-ranked UConn its earliest loss since 1995.

Tennessee (2-0) trailed by three at the half in the matchup of Hall of Fame coaches -- Tennessee's Pat Summitt and the Wolfpack's Kay Yow. It was tied at 34 before Sidney Spencer started a 9-2 run for the Vols, and they made it 49-41 on a 3-pointer by Hornbuckle.

``We struggled to get the ball inside early, and when you do that, obviously, you're going to struggle,'' Summitt said.

N.C. State (1-1) got back within four on a jumper by Monica Pope with about five minutes left, then didn't score again until the final minute.

``We did a couple of things well,'' Yow said. ``We played really hard, and we played together. We're not as smart as we'd like to be yet.''

Meanwhile, senior reserve Jackson used her experience to increase Tennessee's lead. On two occasions, she was fouled on drives to the basket just before the shot clock expired.

She made all four free throws and the Volunteers cruised from there.

``Brittany is not necessarily someone to do that with some consistency,'' Summitt said. ``That's the one thing in the last week she's done in practice, and she can be very effective. She likes to spot up for the 3, and she can do that, too.''

Tennessee hasn't lost to an unranked team since a loss to LSU on March 2, 2002, in the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Lady Vols started the season ranked No. 1 for the first time 1998. With talented veterans such as Jackson, Ely, Shanna Zolman and Loree Moore back, the they are a contender for Summitt's seventh national title at the school.

Summitt also signed the nation's top-ranked recruiting class, including the No. 1 prospect, Candace Parker. But Parker and two other freshmen, Alex Fuller and Sade Wiley-Gatewood, are injured, and Fuller is out for the season.

Yow, in her 30th season with the Wolfpack, remained three victories short of 600, and she fell to 0-3 in the Jimmy V Women's Classic. N.C. State hasn't beaten Tennessee 1990.

``We have to have a little time to get some games under our belt and feel each other out,'' Yow said. ``We're working on the right things. If we could get our shots to fall, we would really be in business.''