(5) Tennessee (16-3) vs. Florida (12-8)
Game Info: 7:00 pm EST Thu Feb 3, 2005
Tennessee point guard Loree Moore seemed to spark her team when she left with an injury Monday. Now she hopes to give them a lift while she's on the court.
After a scary fall, Moore is expected to play as the fifth-ranked Lady Vols (16-3, 6-0 SEC) go for their 34th win in 35 all-time meetings with Florida on Thursday.
Moore was hit in the face while going for a rebound in Tennessee's 77-70 win over No. 18 Georgia on Monday. She fell to the floor and was briefly unconscious before being taken off in a wheelchair.
Moore was scheduled to have corrective surgery Wednesday on her nose, which was broken, but is expected to be in the lineup against the Gators wearing a split.
Georgia had pulled to within five points of Tennessee, but Alexis Hornbuckle scored just before Moore went down to snap a 6-0 Bulldogs run. The Vols extended the lead after their teammate was wheeled off.
``I think her going out was a great motivation for them because they knew that Loree was in a lot of pain. They wanted to go take care of business,'' said coach Pat Summitt, who is 12 victories shy of becoming the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history. ``Our team drew from that a lot of energy, a lot of motivation.''
Shyra Ely played all but three minutes for Tennessee and had 17 points and 12 rebounds. The Vols have won 40 straight regular season conference games.
``She can run a marathon during a game. She never misses a beat. She's always in motion,'' Summitt said of Ely.
Tennessee has won eight in a row overall, including victories over No. 11 Connecticut and then-No. 17 Vanderbilt.
Tennessee junior guard Shanna Zolman underwent an MRI after injuring her right knee late in Monday's game, but the results were negative. She's expected to be available Thursday.
Florida (12-8, 3-4) lost its third straight Sunday, 84-73 to Vanderbilt. Bernice Mosby scored 15 points and Tishona Gregory added 14 for Florida, which shot 48.4 percent from the floor.
The Gators led by eight with 13:30 remaining, but the Commodores went on a 21-4 run en route to the win.
``When we had the lead, we got away from what got us there,'' coach Carolyn Peck said. ``You look at how well we shot the ball and the fact that we outrebounded them, and you'd think you'd come out with a win. But you can't allow a team to hit 13 3-pointers.''
Freshman Depree Bowden sat out because of the flu, but Danielle Santos played for the first time since suffering a stress fracture in her right foot on Dec. 19. She scored one point and grabbed two rebounds in 12 minutes.
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