Thursday, January 13, 2005

(8) Tennessee 72, Arkansas 54

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Shanna Zolman followed most of her father's advice to get out of a shooting slump. She just left out the part about the streaker.

Zolman scored 16 points Thursday night to lead No. 8 Tennessee to a 72-54 victory over Arkansas, bouncing back from an awful performance in the Lady Vols' last game.

Zolman's shooting woes had already cost her a spot in the starting lineup when she went 0-for-4 in Tennessee's win at Connecticut.

After that her father and high school coach, Kem Zolman, told her to relax and ``just imagine somebody just running naked or something out there just to make you laugh and get your mind off basketball,'' she said.

Whatever she thought about worked, but she says it wasn't someone without clothes.

``I was mad at myself for saying that because now everybody probably thinks I'm a pervert. It's just something dad told me,'' she said. ``My dad has a sick sense of humor sometimes.''

Zolman got the Lady Vols (11-3, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) rolling in the first half with 10 points, and they held Arkansas to 17 points before halftime.

Tennessee, seeking an eighth straight regular-season league title, won their 55th straight SEC home game and their 10th in a row over Arkansas.

The Lady Razorbacks (10-5, 0-4) have been no match for Tennessee recently, losing the previous two meeting by 39 and 22 points.

Zolman, usually an accurate long-range shooter, started the first 11 games of the season, but she has been a reserve the last three games.

She got on track early against Arkansas, making five of her first six shots. She was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, two coming in the first half.

``When they called that timeout I asked her if she saw that streaker at the end of the court,'' coach Pat Summitt said.

A 95-percent free throw shooter, Zolman went 3-of-6 at the line. The crowd clapped to encourage her after each miss.

``Now we've got to deal with her free throw shooting. She missed three. How many did she miss last year?'' Summitt said. Zolman missed four last season.

Tye'sha Fluker scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half and Dominique Redding and Shyra Ely each had 10 points for Tennessee. Ely added a season-high 11 rebounds.

Freshman Brittany Vaughn had a career-high 13 points and Rochelle Vaughn had 10 to lead Arkansas, which used a tenacious and active defense but couldn't stop the Lady Vols.

Tennessee led by 23 at the break -- its largest halftime lead of the season.

The Lady Razorbacks scored first, but Rochelle Vaughn's 3-pointer 8 seconds into the game was one of just six field goals Arkansas had in the first half.

Tennessee put the game away with a 14-2 run over 8 minutes of the first half when Arkansas' only points were on free throws. Zolman capped it with a 3-pointer from the corner that put the Lady Vols ahead 23-7 with 9:58 left.

Brittany Vaughn ended Arkansas' drought with a driving layup 22 seconds later, and the Lady Razorbacks scored on their next possession with Sarah Pfeifer's jumper to cut it to 14. That was as close as Arkansas would get.

Tennessee outscored the Lady Razorbacks 15-6 the rest of the first half and pushed its lead to 26 midway through the second half.

Arkansas played much better after halftime, and Summitt was displeased that the Lady Vols lost focus on defense.

``After the game, I asked our players what they did well. They said we kept playing hard,'' Arkansas coach Susie Gardner said. ``When you are down 40-17, it's easy to throw in the towel, but we kept fighting to the very end.''

The Lady Vols had the rebounding edge, 46-30, over the much shorter Lady Razorbacks, who had three players 6-foot-1 or taller. Tennessee had five.

Arkansas was playing in its third game since starting forward Kristin Moore tore ligaments in her right knee. The Lady Razorbacks have lost three in a row since then.

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