Monday, February 07, 2005

No. 5 Tennessee 99, Mississippi 67

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The first thing Tennessee coach Pat Summitt wrote on the board at halftime was 16 turnovers.

In the second half, the fifth-ranked Lady Vols used tougher defense and an explosive offense to turn a close game into a 99-67 victory over Mississippi on Sunday. The Lady Vols finished with a school-record tying 13 3-pointers and set a record with 27 attempts.

Shanna Zolman scored 21 points, Shyra Ely had 19, Brittany Jackson added 16 and Nicky Anosike and Dominique Redding had 11 apiece for Tennessee (18-3, 8-0 Southeastern Conference), which has won 10 straight since a loss at Rutgers in December.

``We weren't real happy at halftime. I don't think they realized the turnovers,'' Summitt said. ``They came out (in the second half) and really turned the heat up defensively, pushed tempo. Our defense gave us more opportunities to run the basketball.''

Tennessee shot 58 percent (22-of-38) after halftime compared to 38 percent (13-of-34) in the first half, and had only three turnovers.

``They came out of the locker room and played like I've seen them play a few times too many in my career,'' Ole Miss coach Carol Ross said. ``They take a lot of pride in their home court and they really involve the fans. That's not the environment you really want to be in when you're visiting here.''

The Lady Vols have won 42 straight regular-season SEC games and 57 against the league at home.

Tennessee led the entire way, but the Lady Rebels (15-7, 5-4) threatened briefly to make it a game after halftime. They cut it to five by scoring the first points of the second half. It was the closest they would get as the Lady Vols responded with a 9-0 run.

Tennessee kept pouring on the points and were leading by 25 with 8:50 left after Ely converted a three-point play.

Zolman drained five 3s and Jackson sank four. Ely had two from long range after making only three over the previous 20 games.

Jackson tried to hit another 3 in the final seconds after being told that one more would break the record.

``I couldn't get it,'' Jackson said.

Ely rebounded from a bad outing in the Lady Vols' last game, a win at Florida, where she scored only two points.

Summitt inched closer to passing Dean Smith as the all-time winningest coach in college basketball. The retired North Carolina legend holds the record at 879, and Summitt now needs 10 victories to pass him. The Lady Vols have six regular-season games remaining.

Ole Miss has lost 12 in a row to Tennessee.

The Lady Rebels were led by Armintie Price with 19 points and 11 by Carletta Brown. Price had a career-high 32 points in last season's meeting when Tennessee trailed by as many as 12.

The Lady Vols took over early and extended the lead to as many as 16 points in a first half marred by turnovers. The teams combined for 33 turnovers, 17 for Ole Miss and 16 for the Lady Vols. They had six steals apiece.

They combined for only 10 turnovers after halftime.

Tennessee center Tye'sha Fluker, whose grandmother died this week in California, missed her second game.

Lady Vols freshman Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood dressed out but did not play because of swelling in her right knee. She missed the first six games because of tendinitis in that knee.

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