Thursday, December 01, 2005

Texas Longhorns/Tennessee Lady Volunteers Recap

(2) Tennessee 102, (16) Texas 61

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee had lost to Texas four straight times, and Shanna Zolman was tired of it.

Zolman, a senior, scored 23 points to help the second-ranked Lady Vols beat No. 16 Texas 102-61 Thursday night, ending the streak and handing the Longhorns their sixth-worst loss in school history.

It was only the fifth time Texas (3-2) allowed an opponent to score over 100 points, the last time coming in 1999 in a 106-76 loss at Tennessee (6-0).

"I've never won against them. This team has never won against them, and coach was saying they're really the only team that's had a winning streak like they had against us," Zolman said. "That was definitely in the back of our minds this entire week."

Candace Parker added 17 points and 14 rebounds, Sidney Spencer had 12 points and Alexis Hornbuckle and Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood each added 11 points for Tennessee, which outrebounded Texas 45-25. The Longhorns had seven assists and 20 turnovers.

It was the Lady Vols' second blowout of a ranked team this season. They beat then-No. 9 Michigan State 83-55 a week ago in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands.

The Lady Vols increased their lead at the beginning of the second half to 23 by outscoring Texas 15-6. Zolman hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the span. And Tennessee kept pouring it on.

Lindsey Moss came off the bench and hit her first basket, a 3-pointer, with 8:57 left that put the Lady Vols up 79-49.

Tennessee coach Pat Summitt improved to 16-11 over Texas and longtime rival Jody Conradt. The two are the winningest coaches in women's basketball. Summitt leads all men's and women's coaches in the NCAA with 888 wins, while Conradt is fourth at 872.

Conradt has seven freshmen, who made up what was considered the nation's top recruiting class. The Lady Vols have one freshman, Moss, and Parker and Alex Fuller, who both redshirted last year to recover from knee injuries.

The Longhorns took advantage of Tennessee's young players last season in a 74-59 victory in Austin, Texas.

"The players that lived through that night and saw what happened to us, they just wanted to get better," Summitt said. "We grew a lot."

Hornbuckle was a freshman in last year's game.

"I don't want to say I have pity for them, but I understand where they're coming from," she said.

Texas' lack of experience was glaring.

"They got us on the mat and we never got up," Conradt said. "I felt like we were going to have to ask permission to get a rebound."

Tennessee ran out to a 17-0 lead in the first 5 1/2 minutes and were ahead by as many as 22 points twice in the first half.

The closest the Longhorns got before halftime was 37-24 after Earnesia Williams hit a jumper and Nina Norman had a 3, but Tennessee answered with Zolman's 3.

Norman and Tiffany Jackson each scored 13 points to lead Texas, and Carla Cortijo added 12.

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