Thursday, December 18, 2008

Bjorklund’s 3s lift Vols past Old Dominion, 81-76

NORFOLK, Va. — Angie Bjorklund matched her career high with 29 points and hit two huge 3-pointers Thursday night as No. 11 Tennessee got back to its winning ways by prevailing in a back-and-forth battle with longtime rival Old Dominion, 81-76.

Tennessee (8-2), coming off a 73-59 loss at Texas that knocked it out of the top 10 after a record 211 consecutive weeks there, won for the 13th straight time in the series between two of the schools that first brought women’s college basketball to prominence.

Old Dominion (5-3) got 17 points from Tiffany Green and 14 from Jasmine Parker, but couldn’t overcome a major size deficiency as the Lady Vols outrebounded them 56-58.

Tennessee scored 23 second-chance points, and Old Dominion had just 13.

Jessica Canady’s putback and Jazzmin Walters’ layup gave the Lady Monarchs a 67-65 lead with 4:56 left but, just as the crowd whipped itself into an upset-minded frenzy, Bjorklund’s fifth 3-pointer put the Lady Vols back in front. It was the first of her two daggers.

The second came with 1:51 to play, after Shadasia Green’s putback gave the Lady Monarchs the lead at 71-70, again igniting the crowd. This time, Bjorklund connected from deep on the left wing to restore Tennessee’s lead to 73-71. She added a 15-footer with 1:03 to play, pushing the Lady Vols’ lead to four, and Old Dominion couldn’t recover.

Alyssia Brewer added 15 points for Tennessee and Glory Johnson had 10. Vicki Baugh and Alex Fuller each grabbed 12 rebounds for the Lady Vols, who had 26 offensive boards.

Canady and Jen Nuzzo added 11 each for Old Dominion.

Tennessee led 50-45 with 14:12 to play before Tiffany Green scored inside on a feed from Nuzzo, and Parker’s fourth 3-pointer 36 seconds later pulled the Lady Monarchs even.

Neither team led by more than four the rest of the way.

The Lady Vols led 24-18 until Tiffany Green’s two free throws with 6:39 left in the half sparked a 14-4 run for Old Dominion capped by consecutive 3-pointers by Parker.

The burst gave the Lady Monarchs a 32-28 lead, but just as quickly, Tennessee responded with an 11-4 spurt to end the half, getting two 3-pointers from Bjorklund in the run.

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