Monday, January 31, 2005

(19) Georgia (16-5) vs. (5) Tennessee (15-3)

Game Info: 7:00 pm EST Mon Jan 31, 2005

Tennessee has won seven straight games and is one of the top five teams in the country. Still, coach Pat Summitt still sees plenty of room for improvement.
The fifth-ranked Lady Vols look to make their coach a little happier as they host No. 18 Georgia on Monday.

Tennessee (15-3, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) beat South Carolina 68-53 on Thursday for their 39th straight regular season SEC win. However, the Lady Vols had 21 turnovers, shot just 39.1 percent and trailed in the middle of the second half.

``I'll tell you, I'm very disappointed that we came here and played the way we did,'' Summitt said. ``It's just not Tennessee's way. It's not acceptable. But I will accept a win.''

The Gamecocks pulled ahead 37-36 with 13:54 left in the game before Shyra Ely sparked a 16-2 run that gave the Vols control.

Ely finished with 16 points, and Tye'sha Fluker added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Fluker is averaging 13 points and 8.2 rebounds in Tennessee's five conference games.

``I think that when you are Tennessee and you are a marked program, and everyone wants to beat you,'' said Summitt, who is 13 wins shy of becoming the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history. ``We have to first of all match that intensity. ... When you play at Tennessee, we are a program that has high standards.''

The Vols have won their first five conference games this season by an average of 15 points, including a 79-65 win over No. 21 Vanderbilt on Jan. 16. Tennessee, which has not lost a regular season conference game since February 2002, has outscored all of its opponents by an average of 10.5 points.

``We didn't take the initiative to bring the energy, to bring the intensity to them,'' said Shanna Zolman, who scored 13 points. ``We did once we finally got jump-started and got yelled at.''

The Lady Bulldogs (16-5, 5-2 SEC) won their third straight on Thursday, beating Florida 81-61. Freshman Tasha Humphrey had team-highs of 21 points and nine rebounds, just missing her seventh double-double in as many conference games and her 10th overall.

Summitt said the Lady Vols will be looking out for Humphrey, who leads Georgia with 18.7 points per game.

``She has had the scorer's mentality, and she wants to be the go-to player,'' Summit said. ``She has established herself as that, which makes Georgia a lot better now in terms of quickness and depth. She is a tough player to defend one-on-one.''

Guard Sherill Baker played all 40 minutes for the Bulldogs, and had 18 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.

Georgia has two conference losses so far, against Kentucky and top-ranked Louisiana State. Thursday's win was the 708th for Landers, tying him with Sue Gunter for fourth on the all-time list, one behind Rutgers' Vivian Stringer.

Tennessee leads the all-time series between the schools 32-14 and has won five of the last six meetings. However, Georgia is one of just three teams, along with Connecticut and Texas, to beat Tennessee twice at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Bulldogs are also the last SEC team to beat the Lady Vols at home, 94-93 in overtime on Dec. 8, 1996.

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