Lady Vols Release 2005-2006 Hoops Schedule

The Lady Vols Will Tangle With A Number Of Traditional Top Rivals

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The University of Tennessee Lady Volunteer basketball schedule has been finalized for the 2005-06 season.

Besides running the gauntlet of the perennial Southeastern Conference powerhouses, the Lady Vols will also tangle with a number of traditional top rivals, including Connecticut, Texas, Duke, Stanford and Louisiana Tech. In addition, a trip to the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, will find UT facing NCAA runner-up Michigan State, highly-regarded Maryland and a first-ever meeting with Gonzaga.

"Our schedule for the coming season is exciting and challenging," said Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt, who is beginning her 32nd season at Tennessee and is the NCAA's all-time winningest coach starting the season at 882-172. "We have a great blend of youth and experience coming back," continued Summitt. "And we're excited to see a healthy squad out on the court. We can't wait to get started," she said.

Tennessee, third-place finisher at the 2005 NCAA Final Four, opens the 2005-06 campaign at home hosting a pair of exhibition games against Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia) and nearby Carson Newman College. Dr. Carolyn Savoy, Dalhousie head coach since 1977, studied for her PhD at Tennessee and observed Summitt's teams while working on her doctorate, 1990-92. She brings her Tiger team to Knoxville for the first time for an exhibition.

Following the exhibition tune-ups, the Lady Vols officially open the season at home with back-to-back games on Nov. 20 facing Stetson and on Nov. 21 taking on UT Chattanooga.

"I really wanted us to have some solid game experience before we traveled to the Paradise Jam," related Summitt. "We will be tested early by three outstanding teams in Michigan State, Maryland and Gonzaga. Not only will it be some great basketball games but an exciting adventure for our team, staff and fans to the Virgin Islands during the Thanksgiving break, Nov. 24-26."

Tennessee starts the December portion of its schedule in Knoxville trying to break a four-game losing skein to the University of Texas on Dec. 1 in a game televised by ESPN2. Other home match-ups in the final month of the year will see the Lady Vols facing Louisiana Tech on Dec. 15 and entertaining first-time opponent Princeton on Dec. 20 in Thompson-Boling Arena. UT has four road games in December starting with the "Battle of the Titans" at Stanford on Dec. 7 (ESPN2). The Lady Vols then travel to George Washington University on Dec. 7, Temple University on Dec. 28 and conclude the 2005 portion of the schedule at Notre Dame on New Year's Eve in South Bend, Indiana.

In January, the Lady Vols will face three more non-conference foes before settling into the SEC battle. Old Dominion travels to Knoxville on Jan. 2; later in the week, BIG EAST foe Connecticut visits Thompson-Boling Arena on Jan. 7 (CBS) and finally, the Lady Vols travel to Duke on Jan. 23 (ESPN2).

January is a light SEC month at home for the Lady Vols with only Georgia (Jan. 12) and Alabama (Jan. 29) coming to town. Conference road games in the first month of the year find UT traveling to South Carolina (Jan. 5), Mississippi State (Jan. 15), Vanderbilt (Jan. 19), and Kentucky (Jan. 26).

February is almost the reverse schedule for Tennessee as the Lady Vols will enjoy home games against Arkansas (Feb. 5), an ESPN "Rivalry Week" contest against LSU (Feb. 9, ESPN2), an ESPN "February Frenzy" match-up versus Vanderbilt (Feb. 12, ESPN2), and a pair of home finales against Auburn (Feb. 23) and Florida (Feb. 26). February road trips include jaunts to Mississippi (Feb. 2), Georgia (Feb. 16) and to Alabama (Feb. 19). Tennessee has picked up home-and-home SEC games with Alabama and Georgia this season to go along with its annual home-and-home traditional rival contests versus Vanderbilt.

"It's no surprise that we've taken on another challenging schedule for the coming season," said Summitt. "I'm excited that our fans will get to enjoy such a great line-up of games in Thompson-Boling Arena.

"Once again this year, the SEC - from top to bottom -- will be as strong as it has ever been," professed Summitt. "Not only do I expect to see four SEC teams ranked among the nation's top 10 but there are several teams that are greatly improved, and pushing to get into the top-half of the league. To be sure, the SEC schedule will be extremely challenging."

In the postseason, the 2006 Southeastern Conference Tournament will return to North Little Rock, Ark., Mar. 2-5. While the NCAA festivities kicks-off with First/Second Round games Mar. 18-21 and four NCAA Regionals, Mar. 25-28. The season will culminate with the 2006 NCAA Final Four at the FleetCenter in Boston, Mass., April 2 & 4.

Anosike finds the time to hand down her lessons

Tennessee sophomore leads series of clinics after a busy summer with Team USA

Take one look at Nicky Anosike's resume these days and you couldn't blame her if she wanted to take some down time in the month of August.

When you're a member of perennial powerhouse University of Tennessee women's basketball team and recently completed a trip to Tunis, Tunisia after competing for gold medal-winning Team USA at the under-19 World Championships, a break would appear necessary.

Except Anosike wouldn't hear of it. Instead, the former St. Peter's star has decided to spend time sharing her experiences and teaching the game she loves to youngsters at the PAL Beacon Center-sponsored clinic at Staten Island Tech in New Dorp.

The 6-foot-4 Anosike held the second of her five sessions, dubbed Nicky's Project, yesterday, first for girls 13-and-under and later 16-and-under. Now 19, Anosike demonstrated drills, then observed from midcourt with a stopwatch in hand.

"A lot of people on Staten Island helped me get to where I am today," said Anosike, who averaged 11.4 points and 5.3 rebounds in eight games at the World Championships. "I figured I'd come back and help out as much as I can.

"The PAL Diamonds were the first (team) I ever played competitive ball for and I just thought there was no better way to give back."

PAL borough director Joseph Loughran and Beacon director Tom Marshall couldn't be happier to have the two-time Jaques Award winner on their staff.

"Role model is an over used term, but Nicky fits under that category in its true meaning," said Loughran. "Not only does she have a great work ethic, but she's in high standing academically and she shares it with the children of the Beacon Center."

"The girls are very much into listening to Nicky," added Marshall. "She walks around focusing on each kid and she takes the time to teach them when they make mistakes.

"She's doing a terrific job."

Anosike, who will be a sophomore at Tennessee in the fall, said her experience with the Lady Vols has had a direct impact on the clinic.

"Every drill we do here we do at Tennessee," said Anosike, who currently resides in East Orange, N.J., when she's not at school. "(Tennessee assistant coach) Dean Lockwood gave me a lot of ideas and we've been using drills that I do.

"These kids are young and we want them to be alert and involved."

As successful as Anosike was at St. Peter's, the four-time Advance All Star had to do some learning herself upon joining the Lady Vols last fall. But not only did she wind up averaging 6.7 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Final Four participants, she started the final 21 games.

"By the middle of last season, the (coaching staff) considered me a sophomore, which is great," Anosike said. "But last year, my role was more of being a defensive stopper.

"Now I'm looking to be in more of a scoring-type role this season. I had a meeting with coach (Pat Summitt) and I told her I wanted more of a responsibility.

"She said she trusted me."

Anosike said her experience with Team USA, which was like a college all-star team, will help her prepare herself for next season.

"It was a great experience," she said. "I was motivated because I got cut when I tried out the year before.

"I think the biggest thing was I had more confidence, especially after playing one season of collegiate ball. Playing in the Final Four definitely helped me get ready to play (for Team USA)."

Speaking of the Final Four, Anosike said she's planning on using last year's disappointing finish (a loss to upstart Michigan St. in the semifinals) as a springboard to a strong 2005-05 campaign. In addition to Anosike, the Lady Vols are returning several other key players and will likely make another run for Summitt's seventh national title.

"We've got to finish what we started last season," said the former Parade All-American and Southeast Conference All-Freshmen team member last year. "We let it slip away by looking past Michigan St.

"But no doubt about it. Our goal this season is a national championship and I think we have the team to do it."

Colleagues, teammates remember Gunter's influence

Pokey Chatman had plenty of anecdotes to share about her mentor, but she also knew Sue Gunter would've wanted her to keep it short.

"I could go on and on," Chatman said Monday at Gunter's memorial service. "Sue's still the boss today and she wouldn't like that."

About 500 people gathered at First United Methodist Church to say goodbye to Gunter, who died at her home Thursday. She was 66.

Gunter will have one final service with visitation set from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Wilcox Funeral Home in Carthage, Miss. Interment will follow at Mount Zion Cemetery in her hometown of Walnut Grove, Miss.

"I feel really blessed that Sue Gunter was a part of my life," Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt said. "I'm a better person and obviously a better teacher because of her."

Summitt was among several college coaches in attendance along with Jody Conradt of the University of Texas, Kim Mulkey-Robertson of national champion Baylor and former U.S. Olympic coach Billie Moore.

Chatman and ESPN women's basketball analyst and former Olympian Ann Meyers Drysdale both delivered eulogies.

"To all who knew Sue she was the best friend that anybody could ever have," Meyers Drysdale said. "She was a sister, a mother, a daughter to so many. She died so young. We weren't ready for her to die. But there was one lesson that we did learn was that she was ready and she knew it."

More than 20 of Gunters former players from LSU were on hand. Former All-American point guard Temeka Johnson, a member of the WNBA's Washington Mystics, boarded a plane 6:45 a.m. Monday after a late-night televised game.

"I was at the game, but I wasn't there mentally," Johnson said. "My mind was on coach Gunter the entire time, having to come back and say my last good-bye."

Gunter, whose career also included stops at Middle Tennessee State and Stephen F. Austin, concluded her career as the third winningest coach (708-308) in womens basketball history, trailing only Summitt and Conradt. She also ranks third in games coached (1,016) and sixth in 20-win seasons (22).

Gunter has already been inducted into the Womens Basketball Hall of Fame, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. She will be enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in September.

Meyers Drysdale, an All-America guard at UCLA, played for Gunter on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team, the start of a 30-year friendship.

Gunter, then an assistant coach to Moore on the U.S. team, carried a notorious habit for smoking and Meyers tried several time to get her to quit.

"I used to hide them or as soon as she put one in her mouth I would break it," Meyers said. "Then Id steal her lighter or blow out the match."

To which Meyers recalled Gunter saying: "Dammit."

UT'S PAT SUMMITT COMMENTS ON THE PASSING OF FORMER LSU COACH SUE GUNTER

Summitt played under Gunter during the 1976 Olympics in Montreal

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - "Sue Gunter was a wonderful friend, an exceptional person and an incredibly talented basketball coach," said Pat Summitt, University of Tennessee Lady Vol head basketball coach, on the passing of her longtime friend on Thurs., Aug. 4, in Baton Rouge, La.

Gunter, head coach at Louisiana State University for 22-years, stepped down from her coaching duties for health reasons during the 2003-04 season. She died this morning at 8:30 a.m. at her home. Gunter was 66-years old.

Summitt, reached in Los Angeles, Calif., where she was speaking at Collegiate Business Conference, was deeply saddened by the news.

"Definitely one of the pioneers of women's collegiate basketball," said Summitt. "She was one of my mentors. Sue was the assistant coach to Billie Moore when I played on the 1976 USA Olympic Team (silver medalist) in Montreal. Four years later, I had the privilege of serving as her assistant when she was named head coach of the 1980 USA Olympic Team to the boycotted Moscow games.

"I learned so much from Sue about the X's and O's of the game of basketball. But more importantly, she taught me about the delicate balance of coaching and teaching the game and the value of great player-coach relationships. She made playing basketball fun due to her ability to connect with her players. Personally, I am going to miss her tremendously and I know the game is going to miss her," concluded Summitt.

Summitt first faced Gunter's teams while she was coaching at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Gunter posted a 2-1 record over Summitt's Tennessee teams during that span. In 1982, Gunter became the head coach at LSU and the two lifelong friends faced each other 30 times on the Southeastern Conference hardwood.

Gunter never made it to the Final Four as a head coach. In the season that she had to step aside for health reasons, interim head coach and former LSU standout Pokey Chatman led the Lady Tigers to the 2004 NCAA Final Four in New Orleans, La., where, ironically, they lost to Summitt and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, 52-50, on April 4, 2004.

Gunter completed her career among the leaders in several NCAA coaching categories: seasons coached (No. 1 - 40); games coached (No. 3 - 1,016); wins (No. 3 - 708); and 20-win seasons (No. 4 - 22).

Born May 22, 1939, in Leake County, Miss., Gunter was a native of Walnut Grove, Miss. She is preceded in death by her parents, Lovette Golden Gunter and Ivadean Barham Gunter. She is survived by two aunts, cousins and numerous friends and admirers.

According to LSU officials, arrangements are pending for a special visitation service. She will be buried alongside her parents at Mount Zion Cemetery in Walnut Grove, Miss.

Gunter was respected for her contributions to women's sports, however, she was also revered throughout collegiate athletics for her impact on the sport of basketball regardless of gender. She was named as a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000 and will be inducted posthumously into the prestigious Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2005.

Nashville City Paper - Business Calendar

Wednesday, Aug. 17

CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) Southeastern Conference, Wednesday to Friday. “Building on Success,” featuring workshops and a luncheon on Thursday with keynote speaker Pat Summitt. Marriott Nashville at Vanderbilt University, 2555 West End Ave. $149. http://midtin.ccimnet.com or 850-2708

DelleDonne leads her team to AAU national title

Another basketball season, another championship for Elena DelleDonne.

The 15-year-old, 6-foot-4 star from Centreville led her AAU team to a second consecutive national title on Wednesday in Clarksville, Tenn., scoring 40 points in Fencor's 78-67 victory over the Fairfax (Va.) Stars.

According to AAU officials, DelleDonne's 40 points were a record for a girls championship game.

Fencor, based in Fort Washington, Pa., won the 15-and-under title after taking the 14-and-under championship last summer. DelleDonne also led Ursuline to state titles in her first two seasons of high school ball.

"It's pretty much the same feeling every time," DelleDonne said of playing on four championship teams in two years. "It's amazing and you can't describe it unless you've been through it."

Other tournament teams made a point of sticking around to watch DelleDonne play. And opposing players asked DelleDonne to sign autographs and pose for photos as Fencor dominated the 95-team event at Austin Peay University.

Fencor, which also includes Ursuline guard Erin Edwards, finished 11-0. DelleDonne averaged 22 points per game while sitting out much of the second halves.

Only one Fencor victory was by fewer than double digits. In that game, with her team trailing by four with 1:45 to play, DelleDonne scored eight of her team's final 10 points in a 65-61 win.

In the championship, Fencor faced the Fairfax team that beat them in the final of the 13-and-under tournament two years ago. Facing Jasmine Thompson, the Virginia high school player of the year, DelleDonne went off.

"She was unstoppable," said Fencor coach Veronica Algeo. "They threw different people at her -- little people, big people -- and none of it worked. Elena was hitting from all over the place."

The title helped make up for a rough summer for DelleDonne, who missed a month of play while fighting an infection and a fever. She attended a prestigious 22-player Nike camp, the only sophomore there, but couldn't participate.

She's back now. Algeo said University of Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt watched nine of DelleDonne's 11 games, while Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma watched the final five.

"When I walk in, I see them," DelleDonne said. "I know it's good that they're taking the time to come and see me. But when I'm on the court, they don't exist."

Angels reaching for the heights

Kenner team is attracting a lot of attention

Completely confident in her Kenner Angels, Caitlin Cleveland looked straight ahead and answered the question with ease.

This group of 15- and 16-year-old girls has won two Amateur Athletic Union national championships, in 2000 and 2001. They didn't become that good just from practicing whenever they had spare time between homework and home room.

There's something else to it.

"It was bred within us to annihilate everyone we played," Cleveland said.

Don't believe her?

When the Angels were eighth-graders, they couldn't find any suitable competition their age, so they played in high school camps.

The Angels didn't just win, they beat every team they faced. The high schoolers would lose by as much as 30 points to Kenner, Cleveland recalled.

"We were a very good team," Angel forward Adrienne Johnson said. "We just wanted better competition."

During the six years this core group of Angels has been together, they have placed in the final four of the national tournament five times. Their worst finish was eighth. That's out of 100 teams from across the country that qualify for the field.

They have six or seven players who likely will play NCAA Division I basketball, Angels coach Alan Frey said, and a few others could wind up playing at smaller colleges.

Cleveland, the team's point guard, has received questionnaires from Baylor, Tennessee, Florida and Connecticut. Colleges can't send letters to prospective student-athletes until Sept. 1 of the player's junior year of high school.

Adrienne Johnson, the Angels' leading scorer, has received mailings from Tulane, Mississippi State and Louisiana Tech.

But this confident group of Angels doesn't let what comes in the mail go to their heads. They don't really talk about it.

"They try to play it cool," Frey said.

At most gymnasiums where the Angels play, college recruiters chart their every move. Earlier this week, Tennessee coach Pat Summitt watched three Angels games.

Talk about pressure.

"I was definitely star-struck," Johnson said of playing in front of Summitt.

The Angels, founded in the late 1980s, have nine AAU national titles. Nearly 50 players who went through the Angels program played NCAA Division I basketball, including assistant coach Shondra Johnson, who led the team to five AAU titles, including the 1996 AAU Junior Olympic Games. She was the AAU Joel Ferrell Award winner for most outstanding player in her sport.

On Friday, Kenner won two games in the double-elimination tournament at the Alario Center. The championship game for girls basketball is Tuesday.

Conference room to bear Campbell's name

Refurbished suite will be for Lady Vols' use

Pat Summitt and the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team will not let the memories of longtime and faithful fan Gerry Campbell slip away.

Their new conference room - to be designed for team meetings, film sessions and staff meetings - will be named in memory of Campbell, a Lady Vols fan almost from the time Summitt was hired by UT in 1974. A portrait of Campbell and a plaque will be displayed.

The room will be in the Lady Vols basketball suite of Thompson-Boling Arena - an area which once served as Summitt's office.

Several of Campbell's close friends are heading a fund-raiser for the project, which is expected to be completed sometime in September.

"Gerry was, without question, one of the most-loyal Lady Vol fans," Summitt said Thursday. "From the time I started coaching, he started watch our basketball team - but not just basketball. He was a fan of all Lady Vols sports.

"The Olympics was his passion and I was fortunate to see him just before he left for Athens (Greece)," Summitt said.

Campbell became ill as he prepared to return home from the Olympics and died Oct. 7, 2004 in an Athens hospital. He was 74.

"Gerry was a wonderful friend to me and to the Lady Vols athletes," Summitt said. "So, for us to just have something in his memory is truly special. I miss him so much. He was a wonderful friend."

The project was recommended to UT by Campbell's longtime friend Martha Winkler. Contributions may be sent to Lady Vol Development, McKenzie-Lawson Athletic Center - Level 1, Gerry Campbell Project/Attn. Dara Worrell, P.O. Box 15016, Knoxville, Tn. 37901-5016.

Anosike's on the rise

Building on an impressive freshman season at the college level, Lady Vol basketball player Nicky Anosike appears to be stepping her game up another notch against international competition this summer.

Anosike, a 6-4 post player, produced 14 points and 12 rebounds in just 19 minutes of action Sunday as the U.S. thumped Serbi and Motenegro 94-68 in the FIBA Women's Under-19 World Championships at Tunis, Tunisia.

Anosike came on strongly near the end of her first season with Tennessee last winter. She led all Lady Vol scorers in back-to-back games against Alabama (19 points on Feb. 27) and Auburn (15 points on March 4).

The talented New Yorker then turned in an imposing showing in the NCAA Tournament. She scored 11 points with 6 rebounds in the Round of 32 game against Purdue, then produced a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) in the Sweet 16 win over Texas Tech. After a 14-point, 7-rebound effort against Rutgers in the Elite Eight, she closed with a 7-point, 13-rebound outing against Michigan State in the Final Four semifinals.

Anosike finished the season with averages of 6.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 20.3 minutes per game. She grabbed nearly half (104) of her 214 total rebounds off the offensive board. She also recorded 50 assists (including seven in one game against Arkansas) and 60 blocked shots.

Clearly, this is a budding star whose stock is on the rise.

Paradise Jam

Never afraid to play a game anywhere, Pat Summitt will take her 2005-06 Lady Vols to the U.S. Virgin Islands to open their season -- and celebrate Thanksgiving. Tennessee, which lost 68-64 to Michigan State in the semifinals of the Final Four last March, could face the Spartans again in the Paradise Jam Nov. 22-27. The Lady Vols are in the St. John field, which includes Maryland, Gonzaga and Michigan State. The other half of the tournament, the St. Thomas field, features Alabama, Minnesota, Nevada and Virginia. Travel packages for the event are $1,000/person for a double room or $1,500/person for single occupancy. What's a little pocket change when coconut shrimp and umbrella drinks can replace turkey on Thanksgiving menus?

Hornbuckle preparing for heavier workload

Alexis Hornbuckle had an outstanding freshman season at the University of Tennessee.

But she is going to be asked to do more for the Lady Vols this year, so she is getting ready. Hornbuckle has spent the majority of the summer in Knoxville preparing for the upcoming basketball season.

“I have been working on my shooting,” Hornbuckle said. “Coach Pat [Summitt] asked me to work on that aspect of my game because I think I’ll be called on [to shoot] more.”

There has been little rest in the offseason for Hornbuckle.

“I’ve been taking classes, which ends this week,” she said. “And I have been working camps and working out. Shooting has been No. 1, but I have also been working on my strength and conditioning.”

The former Capital and South Charleston Class AAA all-stater and three-time West Virginia girls player of the year led the Lady Vols in assists, steals and defensive rebounds for the season, though she started just 21 of 35 games.

But even if Hornbuckle wasn’t penciled in the starting lineup, it wasn’t long before she made it to the scorer’s table.

“We had some injuries, but we were a pretty deep team to begin with,” she said.

Hornbuckle grabbed high-point honors in three high-profile games — against Louisiana Tech, UConn and a NCAA semifinal loss to Michigan State. For her efforts, Hornbuckle was a two-time Lady Vol Player of the Week and Co-Southeastern Conference Player of the Week once.

Playing for Summitt proved quite an experience last season as the coach reached the NCAA all-time basketball win record. Summitt finished the season with 882 career victories, breaking Dean Smith’s record of 879 career Division I victories with the North Carolina men.

“That was fun,” Hornbuckle said. “After the game, they announced the court was named for her and she was caught completely by surprise.”

Tennessee reached the NCAA Women’s Final Four before bowing out to Michigan State.

“It was great [making it to the Final Four],” said Hornbuckle. “But the atmosphere wasn’t much different from our regular-season games [at Tennessee], though. It was fun.’’

Never timid with her skills, Hornbuckle admitted that her confidence level is still growing.

“It’s an honor to play here,” she said. “It’s a whole new level of confidence. It adds a whole new swagger to your game.”

With former high school teammate Renee Montgomery heading to UConn this year, the possibility of matching two former West Virginia players of the year is an intriguing one.

“I can’t wait,” said Hornbuckle. “We still try to stay in touch. We haven’t played against each other since eighth grade when I was at Dunbar and she was at Hayes.”

The results?

“We won twice,” Hornbuckle said.

Gunter true pioneer for women's basketball

Eight of Louisiana's all-time sports greats will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame today at a 6 p.m. banquet at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches.

This year's inductees include jockey Randy Romero, baseball standout Albert Belle, basketball's Sue Gunter, Rudy Macklin and Janice Lawrence, and footballers Hoyle Granger, Mark Duper and Tom Hinton.

This year's eight inductees bring to 237 the number of state athletes, coaches and administrators awarded the state's highest athletic honor.

Tickets for the induction banquet are $25 and are available by calling the Hall of Fame office at (318) 357-6467.

Sue Gunter was women's basketball before there was women's basketball.

Before national television contracts, 64-team NCAA Tournament brackets, sellout crowds at the Women's Final Four, Gunter was a player. A player on the ground floor of women's basketball as an All-American guard for Nashville Business College, then a successful coach at Stephen F. Austin and LSU along with forays into the international game.

"Sue laid the foundation," said LSU athletics director Skip Bertman, who arrived as the Tigers' baseball coach a year after Gunter showed up in 1982-83. "Jody Conradt, Pat Summitt, Leon Barmore and others all say, 'I learned a lot from Sue Gunter.' There weren't many mentors, but she was one of them."

Gunter started playing basketball when the women's game was only played on half the court and its appeal didn't extend far beyond the gym door. But someone had to start.

From the beginning, from before the beginning, Gunter was there.

"She was an administrator," said current LSU women's coach Pokey Chatman, an All-American point guard for Gunter in 1991 and her assistant until becoming her successor last year. "She probably taught a class. She drove the bus. She coached the team.

"I remember she told me when she became head coach at Stephen F. Austin she was making $6,500 a year and she thought she'd hit the lottery."

The beginning of Gunter's career is lost in the mists of the stone age of women's basketball. She started at Middle Tennessee in the mid-1960s, leading the Blue Raiders to a pair of undefeated seasons.

She then moved on to Stephen F. Austin, in the piney woods of eastern Texas. Gunter coached four sports at SFA — women's basketball, softball, tennis and track. It was with the women's basketball program that Gunter made her name — and established SFA's identity among the nation's trendsetters in the sport as Gunter guided the Ladyjacks to a 266-87 record in 12 seasons.

In 1976, Gunter was an assistant coach on the first U.S. Olympic women's basketball team. One of her players was Pat Head Summitt. Together, they helped Team USA capture a silver medal.

"When I started being coached by her I had just taken the job at Tennessee when I was 22," said Summitt, the winningest coach in college basketball history with a record of 882-172. She was 23 when she began playing for Gunter on the national team and 24 when they went to Montreal for the 1976 Olympics.

"I just enjoyed it," Summitt said. "I had so much fun but I learned a lot from an opportunity to be coached by her as an assistant in Montreal. Then she asked me to be her assistant in 1980."

Gunter was named head coach for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, a team that didn't get to compete because of President Carter's ordered boycott of the Moscow Games after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

"It was difficult for the kids to understand," Gunter said in 2000. "For 90 percent of the athletes, it was their one chance. I just felt I missed my shot."

Summitt succeeded Gunter as Olympic coach in 1984 and led the U.S. to gold in Los Angeles, fielding a team that included 2005 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee Janice Lawrence. By that time, Gunter was already at LSU, resuming her college coaching career after a brief hiatus because of her duties as Olympic coach.

"She had to do a lot in terms of changing from the way she was brought up playing the game to where it is now, where it's more of a contact sport," said LSU senior Seimone Augustus, the consensus national player of the year last season. "Just her being able to evolve with the changes in basketball is something important."

Gunter didn't just evolve with women's basketball, she thrived.

In 22 years at LSU her Lady Tigers recorded 14 20-win seasons and made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching the Final Four in 2004 and the Elite Eight in 1986, 2000 and 2003 along with SEC Tournament championships in 1991 and 2003, and the 1985 WNIT title.

In 2000, Gunter was a member of the second class inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. Gunter attended that induction ceremony, and when LSU played at Tennessee she would bring her Lady Tigers to the hall to learn something about the game — and her. The players, who could scarcely imagine a game before they began playing it, laughed and joked when Gunter would show them photos of her young playing self in her shiny Nashville Business College uniform.

Midway through the 2003-04 season, Gunter stepped aside due to a serious lung ailment that eventually ended her career. Chatman succeeded her as interim coach, leading LSU to its first appearance in the Final Four. Though Chatman was on the bench, Gunter got credit for the season and the Final Four appearance. Her final career record stood at 708-308, including a 442-221 record in 22 seasons at LSU.

This year, Gunter is being inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and in August, the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., going in with such coaching legends as Jim Calhoun of Connecticut, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and long-time NBA coach Hubie Brown.

Unfortunately, Gunter won't likely be able to attend either induction ceremony. Like being the Olympic coach in 1980 and putting together the first LSU team to reach the Women's Final Four, Gunter was once again able to get within sight of the promised land but couldn't cross over.

"Life is not always fair," Summitt said, "and it doesn't seem like it's been fair for someone who broke new ground and really worked so hard for this game, only to be denied both opportunities. When she couldn't coach (the 2004 Final Four) in New Orleans, it just broke my heart. But I'm very happy for her now."

Pursuing degree in game at Summitt

Pam Owens' goal when she graduated from the University of New Orleans in 1989 was to coach college basketball someday.

But as the John Lennon song goes, life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans.

Sixteen years and an outstanding high school coaching career later, Owens finally is getting the opportunity she pursued with the drive that defines so much of her character.

Owens, who built a girls basketball power at Taft High School in only eight seasons, resigned Monday to take a job as a graduate assistant at Tennessee.

Her boss will be Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, who is synonymous with women's basketball.

Summitt has seen a lot of coaches come and go in 31 seasons with the Lady Vols. But she's getting someone special in Owens, whose passion for basketball, particularly Tennessee basketball, is well known.

"I called her a Pat Summitt stalker because she went to all of her clinics," former coaching rival Tina Camacho said with a chuckle.

Owens, 39, makes no apologies for her unbridled enthusiasm.

"I'm going to go up there and be the best graduate assistant I can be," she said. "If you want to be a college coach, what better place to start than at Tennessee? I've always been a huge Pat Summitt fan. She's just awesome."

Summitt (882-172) passed North Carolina icon Dean Smith this year as college basketball's career leader in coaching victories.

Is it any wonder why Owens has taped every Tennessee game that's been on TV each of the past eight seasons?

If you're a student of the game, as Owens surely is, you want to learn from the master.

"She does things right," Owens said of Summitt. "She has a reputation as a hard, stern coach — and she is when that line is crossed. But off the court, she's a great person to be around."

Although she coached at Taft for less than a decade, Owens undoubtedly left her own mark on San Antonio girls basketball.

The Raiders always reflected their coach. They were fundamentally sound, disciplined, mentally tough and, above all, well prepared.

Owens' professionalism reflected her strong commitment to be a positive influence on the girls she coached.

The Raiders went 226-57 under Owens and advanced to the state tournament three of the past four seasons.

Not bad for someone who didn't think she would be a high school coach.

Owens planned to work as a graduate assistant after earning her degree, but she had to put her college career on hold to care for her maternal grandmother in San Antonio. Owens said the decision was a no-brainer, which reveals a lot about her character.

Owens was raised by Pearl Kempin, and she wasn't about to turn her back on her beloved grandma.

"She was always the major influence on my life," Owens said. "She taught me to work hard and treat people the right way. She told me to just be a good person and good things will happen."

Kempin died in 1997.

Owens joined Don Evans' staff at Judson in 1989, staying with him until becoming girls basketball coach at Bandera in 1995. She led the Bulldogs to the playoffs in her first year and was 38-22 in two seasons.

Owens moved to Taft in 1997 and began laying the foundation for one of the state's most consistent winners.

Evans, who coached Owens at Lee through her junior season, said he wasn't surprised when she went into coaching.

"Pam was always eager to learn about basketball and coaching, and always took every opportunity to do just that," Evans said. "I know that coaching in college has been her longtime dream. She will do well."

Agreed.

Owens has the right temperament to be an excellent college coach. A straight shooter with a down-home touch, she will make a good recruiter.

I will miss her intensity and passion for basketball.

Owens made San Antonio girls basketball better. That is the legacy she leaves.

Butts Moving On

Lady Vols' graduate assistant basketball coach Tasha Butts will not be on the sidelines at Thompson-Boling Arena next season. The Lady Vols' basketball office telling Sports Overtime she will pursue other coaching interests.

Published reports state Pam Owens will fill Butts' spot on UT head coach Pat Summitt's bench. Owens has been a high school coach in San Antonio the past eight seasons.

Butts played for Tennessee from 2000-2004.

UT softball players reach Summitt

Basketball coach cheers team through World Series win

OKLAHOMA CITY - University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt kept her promise, and the Lady Vols softball team delivered a World Series win.

"Throughout the recruiting process, since (co-head coaches) Ralph and Karen Weekly took over the program, I've met with almost all, if not all, the recruits,'' Summitt said. "I made this team a promise that if they got here, I'd be here.''

Summitt flew in from the Southeastern Conference spring meetings in Destin, Fla., on Thursday along with UT women's athletic director Joan Cronan and her husband, Tom, and Lady Vols assistant basketball coach Holly Warlick.

Karen Weekly said Summitt's presence made a difference Thursday - a 1-0 win over Arizona - but perhaps not as much as the talk Summitt delivered to the softball team after Georgia had taken two of three games from UT in April.

"She told our girls how important it was to stick together,'' Weekly said. "Her thing was, you've got to have better huddles and get close.

"You see how our girls interlock arms during the national anthem? That started after their talk with Pat.''

Summitt, who flew back to Destin on Thursday night, said she enjoyed watching the softball program score the breakthrough victory.

"Once you get to this level, you leave that door open forever,'' Summitt said. "You know what's out there and what it takes to go through that door. When we started going to Final Fours, it changed the whole scope of our program, and I think that will happen for the softball program as well.''

Summitt said she was impressed particularly with pitcher Monica Abbott, who recorded a shutout in Thursday's 1-0 victory over Arizona in the opening game of the World Series. Abbott leads the nation with 578 strikeouts and 48 wins.

"She's their (Chamique) Holdsclaw,'' Summitt said, referring to the former UT basketball All-American who led the Lady Vols to three consecutive national championships. "When you have a player who can just dominate she's taken this program to a whole other level. That's what Chamique did for our program.''

UT football coach Phillip Fulmer, who attended the Lady Vols regional championship, phoned Ralph Weekly to congratulate him after the game. Fulmer's daughter, Allison, will attend UT and play for the Lady Vols next season.

Summitt to discuss future with Mystics, new owner

Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt said Wednesday that her future with the WNBA's Washington Mystics will depend on her discussions with the team's new owner, Sheila Johnson.

"It seems kind of open-ended,'' said Summitt, who has served as a consultant with the team for the past three years. "We haven't had any type of discussions. Obviously I have to have that.''

Summitt's contract with the Mystics runs through this season.

Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, joined Lincoln Holdings LLC to purchase the Mystics from Abe Pollin's Washington Sports & Entertainment.

Today in History - May 24

Five years ago: Isiah Thomas, Bob McAdoo and Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Summitt driven by Final Four loss

Tennessee coach glad to slow down, spend some time back in hometown

With each tap of her Sharpie, Pat Summitt revealed why she is the most successful coach in NCAA Division I basketball history.

Though it had been six weeks since her Lady Vols lost a 16-point lead against Michigan State in the Final Four, Summitt recounted the story Tuesday in the serenity of the back patio at the Clarksville Country Club during a stop with the Big Orange Caravan like she just walked off the court.

With each point she made, her Sharpie showed her distaste for defeat.

"I have to remind myself not to think about the last game," said Summitt as she rapped the black marker on the table to emphasize her frustration. "As a coach I never — in a big game like that — I have never seen a big lead get away from us. A 16-point lead in a game of that magnitude, it's still in my gut.

Then Summitt looked up with a smile and gave the silver lining.

"There hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't thought about it," Summitt said. "But that's kind of my personality, and that will help us because I will chew on that all summer."

Just like she has done with her competition for the last 31 seasons.

In becoming the most successful Division I basketball coach in NCAA history, surpassing Dean Smith on March 22 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 75-54 win over Purdue, Summitt has amassed 882 wins against only 172 losses.

For that reason, and her hometown charm, fans lined up two and three wide Tuesday at the Clarksville Country Club to get a word, handshake and autograph from the girl from Henrietta who always loves to come back to Clarksville.

"(Coming home) means some of the best home cooking you could ever want or wish for, and it's just special," Summitt said. "It's a different pace here. Usually I don't go anywhere except for to the house or to church."

That's where she spent Mother's Day.

While her husband stayed at her parents' Henrietta home with her sick father, Summitt thanked her mom for surprising her the night she passed Dean Smith with win No. 879 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

"That was very special," said Summitt as the emotion crept into her voice. "And my husband stayed with dad, and that was really neat."

Summitt said she can't thank her mother enough for making it to her record-breaking night when the University of Tennessee surprised her after the game by naming the court, "The Summitt," in her honor.

"I was just totally taken aback and touched by it," Summitt said. "I started crying. I guess I am more emotional than people realize.

"My intensity is one form of emotion, but I show my feelings whether it is laughter or crying or whatever," Summitt added. "And that night it just happened. I was like, I just can't believe this. I can't believe it."

Similar sentiments came from the Clarksville fans who got to meet her Tuesday.

Rachel Vestal, a 14-year-old freshman at Rossview High School next year, said she really enjoyed getting the opportunity to meet Summitt in person before she attends her first Summitt basketball camp this summer.

"It was really cool," Vestal said. "It helped me because I was nervous about going to the basketball camp because there are people from all over the country there.

"But she made me really happy and made me feel better about it."

Vestal said she hopes the camp will not only make her a better basketball player, but will help her understand what makes Summitt the winner she is.

To that, Summitt provided some insight.

"I never expect any less," Summitt explained. "... I think in order to get (to the top) every year you have to plan to be there every year."

USA Basketball Women's Committees

The USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team Committee is charged with the selection of players and coaches for USA Basketball's Senior National Teams that compete in the Olympics, FIBA World Championships, Olympic and World Championship qualifying events when required, and other assigned senior level competitions.

Renee' Brown, the WNBA's Chief of Basketball Operations and Player Relations who served as chair of the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team Committee for 2001-04 quad, will again chair the Senior National Team Committee for 2005-2008. Reappointed by the WNBA from the 2001-2004 Senior Committee were Carol Blazejowski, New York Liberty senior vice president and general manager and 1980 Olympian; Kelly Krauskopf, Indiana Fever senior vice president and chief operating officer; Seth Sulka, Phoenix Mercury vice president and general manager; and Penny Toler, Los Angeles Sparks General manager. Also tagged for the senior committee by the WNBA were Van Chancellor, Houston Comets head coach and head coach of the 2004 USA Olympic and 2002 USA World Championship teams that captured gold; and Roger Griffith, Minnesota Lynx chief operating officer. The NCAA assigned University of Tennessee and 1984 U.S. Olympic Team gold medalist head coach Pat Summitt, and rounding out the 10-member committee are athlete representatives Jennifer Azzi, a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, and five-time Olympian and four-time Olympic gold medalist Teresa Edwards.

The USA Basketball Women's Collegiate Committee is responsible for the selection of players and coaches who compete in collegiate-aged international competitions including FIBA's U19 and U21 World Championships, FIBA Americas' U19 and U21 qualifying tournaments, Pan American Games, World University Games, and other assigned events.

Anosike gets chance to expand her horizons

St. Peter's product heading for Colorado to try out for two international teams

With a full season of college basketball at the University of Tennessee and an appearance in the Final Four under her belt, St. Peter's HS product Nicky Anosike will get a chance to add another impressive line to her resume next week when she participates in the USA Basketball Women's National Team Trials in Colorado Springs.

The Trials, which run from May 19-22, will be used to select the squads that will represent the United States this summer in the FIBA Under-19 World Championship and the World University Games.

"It was definitely a goal of mine," said the 19-year-old University of Tennessee center, and All-Southeastern Conference freshman team selection this season. "I learned a lot last season and I think I am 10 times the player I was at the start of the season."

That was evident to anyone who watched Anosike's startling rise in coach Pat Summitt's rotation this season.

"I learned a lot last year," said Anosike who appeared in all 35 Tennessee games, starting 25 for the Vols. "Just playing with a team like Tennessee for a whole year and being around coach Summitt, you learn a lot."

For the moment, Anosike is engrossed in intense all-day summer classes, the Lady Vols' offseason workout program and moving into a different apartment in Knoxville.

"I'm just trying to get settled in, take it one thing at a time," admitted Anosike, who departs for Colorado one week from today. "By this time next week I'm sure I'll be way more excited."

Anosike will be the only Islander at the tryouts and the only Volunteer. Teammate Candace Parker, who was expected to get an invitation, is still recovering from a knee surgery.

Two teams will be selected -- one for the Under-19 World Championship in Tunis, Tunisia, July 15-24 and one for the World University Games in Imzir, Turkey, from Aug. 11-21. Duke's Gail Goestenkors will direct the Under-19 squad. Kathy Delaney-Smith of Harvard will coach the World University team.

Five other SEC players -- LSU's Seimone Augustus, Quianna Chaney, Sylvia Fowles and Erica White and Auburn's Keshonda Carter -- as well as Lindsay Bowen and Liz Shimek of national runner-up Michigan State received invitations.

Of the 57 players invited, 37 have prior USA Basketball experience, eight from last summer's Under-18 World Championship Qualifying team, from which Anosike was cut.

After the four-day tryouts, the two 12-member teams will be announced. Anosike is one of only 13 invitees eligible for both teams.

Summitt keynote for spring commencement

Pat Head Summitt, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history and a UTM alumna, will deliver the spring commencement address at UTM.

Commencement will be at 11 a.m. May 14, in the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center on the UTM campus.

Dr. John D. Petersen, president of the University of Tennessee, will attend the ceremony to congratulate the 535 spring graduates.

UTM Chancellor Nick Dunagan will preside over the exercises and confer degrees. Dr. Kay Durden, University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Alumni Distinguished Service Professor, will be the mace bearer, and the processional marshals will be Dr. Daniel Pigg, faculty senate president; Dr. Robert LeMaster, faculty senate vice president; Al Hooten, vice chancellor for finance and administration, and Lenora Solomons, vice chancellor for university advancement.

Closing the ceremony will be spring graduate, Lauren Brannon, UT Board of Trustees student member, singing the alma mater.

Immediately following commencement ceremonies, a reception will be hosted in the Duncan Ballroom in the Ed and Carolyn Boling University Center.

Summitt, with 1,054 collegiate basketball games and 882 wins in more than three decades of coaching, graduated from UTM in 1974.

During her 31-year career at UT, she has coached her teams to six NCAA titles, 24 Southeastern Conference tournament and regular-season championships, had 12 Olympians, 18 Kodak All-Americans named to 30 teams and 62 All-SEC performers.

She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in the 1999 inaugural class. In 2000, she was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the first time she was eligible for balloting, in a class that included Isiah Thomas, Bob McAdoo and C.M. Newton. Additionally, Summitt was named the Naismith Coach of the Century in 2000 and has amassed numerous other honors and recognitions.

Summitt enrolled to play basketball and volleyball in 1970, becoming the prototypical player of the future. In 1973, she made her first U.S. national team when she represented the United States on the World University Games team (silver medal). She was co-captain of the 1976 U.S. Olympic team (silver medal) and held spots on the U.S. Women’s World Championship team and the 1975 Pan American Games team (gold medal).

Off the court, Summitt has served as a color commentator for television, an author, and has been involved in and a spokesman for a number of organizations, including United Way, The Race for the Cure for Juvenile Diabetes, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Tennessee Easter Seal Society, American Heart Association and the Lupus Foundation.

A native of Henrietta, Tenn., she and her husband, R.B. Summitt, have a 14-year-old son, Tyler.

Pat and the Prez

President Bush, left, talks with Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, right, before speaking to reporters at McGhee Tyson Airport on Friday, April 22, 2005, in Alcoa, Tenn., after his plans to speak in the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park for Earth Day were changed due to bad weather.

Summitt honored by legislators

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt was honored today by legislators in Nashville for becoming the winningest coach in the NCAA.

Summitt won her 880th game on March 22nd, surpassing Dean Smith, former head coach at North Carolina, for the career wins record.

Her team went on to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

Summitt began coaching at Tennessee in 1974 when she was 22.

She's a native of Henrietta, Tennessee, and played in college at Tennessee-Martin.


Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, left, is congratulated by Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, front, as Summitt is honored by the Tennessee House of Representatives on Wednesday, April 20, 2005, in Nashville, Tenn., for becoming the winningest coach in college basketball last season. Also shown are Tennessee women's athletic director Joan Cronan, second from left, and House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, right.

WNBA Draft - April 16, 2005

2005 WNBA DRAFT, ROUND 1
PICK TEAM SELECTION

1 Charlotte Sting Janel McCarville, C, Minnesota
2 Indiana Fever Tan White, G, Mississippi St.
3 Phoenix Mercury Sandora Irvin, F, Texas Christian
4 San Antonio Silver Stars Kendra Wecker, F, Kansas St.
5 Houston Comets Sancho Lyttle, C, Houston
6 Washington Mystics Temeka Johnson, G, L.S.U.
7 Detroit Shock Kara Braxton, F, Georgia
8 Connecticut Sun Katie Feenstra, C, Liberty
(Rights traded to San Antonio for Margo Dydek)
9 Sacramento Monarchs Kristin Haynie, G, Michigan St.
10 New York Liberty Loree Moore, G, Tennessee
11 Minnesota Lynx Kristen Mann, F, UC-Santa Barbara
12 Seattle Storm Tanisha Wright, G, Penn State
13 Detroit Shock Dionnah Jackson, F, Oklahoma

2005 WNBA DRAFT, ROUND 2
PICK TEAM SELECTION

14 San Antonio Silver Stars Shyra Ely, F, Tennessee
15 Houston Comets Roneeka Hodges, G, Florida State
16 Indiana Fever Yolanda Paige, G, West Virginia
17 Minnesota Lynx Jacqueline Batteast, F, Notre Dame
18 Phoenix Mercury Angelina Williams, F, Illinois
19 Washington Mystics Erica Taylor, G, Louisiana Tech
20 Detroit Shock Nikita Bell, F/G, North Carolina
21 Connecticut Sun Erin Phillips, Australia
22 Sacramento Monarchs Chelsea Newton, G, Rutgers
23 New York Liberty Tabitha Pool, F, Michigan
24 Charlotte Sting Jessica Moore, C, Connecticut
25 Seattle Storm Ashley Battle, F, Connecticut
26 Los Angeles Sparks DeeDee Wheeler, G, Arizona

2005 WNBA DRAFT, ROUND 3
PICK TEAM SELECTION

27 San Antonio Silver Stars Catherine Kraayeveld, F, Oregon
28 Houston Comets Jenni Dant, G, DePaul
29 Indiana Fever Ashley Earley, G/F, Vanderbilt
30 Sacramento Monarchs Anne O'Neil, G, Iowa State
31 Phoenix Mercury Jamie Carey, G, Texas
32 Washington Mystics Tashia Morehead, F, Florida
33 Detroit Shock Jenni Lingor, G, Southwest Missouri St.
34 Connecticut Sun Megan Mahoney, F, Kansas St.
35 Sacramento Monarchs Cisti Greenwalt, C, Texas Tech
36 New York Liberty Rebecca Richman, C, Rutgers
37 Minnesota Lynx Monique Bivins, G, Alabama
38 Seattle Storm Steffanie Blackmon, F, Baylor
39 Los Angeles Sparks Heather Schreiber, F, Texas

Warlick Withdraws Name from Consideration for Clemson Job

Longtime Assistant To Stay At Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --- Holly Warlick, a veteran 20-year assistant coach for the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteer basketball team, announced today that she has withdrawn her name in consideration of the head coaching position at Clemson University.

"Clemson is an outstanding coaching opportunity but not an exact fit for me," said Warlick. "In light of that decision, I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration for the position."

The 2004-05 campaign marked Warlick's second decade as a top basketball assistant at the University of Tennessee working with fellow Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, head coach Pat Summitt. Summitt, who became the all-time winningest coach in NCAA men's or women's collegiate hoops on March 22, 2005 with a 75-54 win over Purdue, has found Warlick alongside her, either as a player or an assistant coach, for 733 of her 882 career victories.

Warlick, the senior-most member of Summitt's staff, capably slid into the role as the top assistant in 2003-04 following the departure of longtime Associate Head Coach Mickie DeMoss who left to assume the head coaching duties at the University of Kentucky.

A three-time All-American while playing for Summitt from 1976-80, Warlick was known as a play-making wiz during her four years as UT's point guard. In 17 of the 24 years Warlick has been affiliated with UT, she has found herself at the Final Four as a player (1977, 1979, 1980) and as a coach (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005). Her best Final Four showing as a player was national championship runner-up in her senior season. As a coach, she has helped the Lady Vols grab the brass ring all six times (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998).

Senate honors Summitt

WASHINGTON -- Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt won another honor today when the U.S. Senate approved a resolution commending her NCAA-record 880 wins and calling her "a proven leader, motivated teacher and established champion."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., filed the legislation and it won immediate, unanimous approval. No other federal action is needed.

The UT Lady Vols basketball coach on March 22 surpassed the career-win record of any male or female NCAA coach, passing former University of North Carolina Coach Dean Smith's record. She ended this season with 882 wins.

Frist spoke on the Senate floor today about Summitt's 31 years of coaching, her dedication and being "a role model for future generations of students, players and coaches."

Summitt, he said, has "elevated the Lady Vols to one of the elite programs in all of sports."

Alexander, a former UT president and Tennessee governor, said on the Senate floor of Summitt: "No one has done more to build the game of women's basketball than Pat Summitt. Today (Lady Vols basketball) is my favorite game to watch on television because of the skill of the players, because of the team play, because of the good coaching, and now because of the parity of the sport."

Alexander praised Summitt for also ensuring that all her players either graduate or remain in the process of completing requirements. "Pat Summitt brings out the best in those young women."

Tennessee senators propose resolution honoring Summitt

WASHINGTON -- Tennessee's U.S. senators Wednesday sponsored a resolution to honor Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt, who last month became the winningest coach in the NCAA.

Summitt won her 880th game on March 22, surpassing Dean Smith, former head coach of the University of North Carolina's men's basketball team, for the career wins record.

Her team was knocked out of this year's NCAA tournament in the semifinals.

The resolution, offered by Sen. Bill Frist and Sen. Lamar Alexandar, commends Summitt for "three decades of excellence as a proven leader, motivated teacher and established champion."

Her teams have won six national championships.

Criticizing Summitt is ridiculous

In the wake of Tennessee letting a 16-point lead slip away in its national semifinal loss to Michigan State, criticism of Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt has surfaced — criticism that is short-sighted and unfair.

If you watched the UT meltdown, you saw a team of young athletes failing to execute as taught. A coach can only do so much, especially with just nine scholarship players.

A review of the Lady Vols over the years illustrates unequivocally that a Summitt team is drilled constantly on fundamentals. One critic implied Summitt failed to mandate her forwards give the ball up to her guards after pulling down a rebound. What a ridiculous premise. Does anyone with even a thread of basketball intelligence think Summitt doesn't want the ball brought up court by a skilled ballhandler?

Analyze the Lady Vols' season and conclude this injury-ravaged team pulled off a minor miracle to win 30 games and get to another Final Four.

If two-time USA Today national high school player of the year Candace Parker remains healthy next season, watch out. The Lady Vols will be back with vengeance. Parker is a Chamique Holdsclaw times two. Having former Shelbyville All-American Alex Fuller available for the first time won't hurt either.

Instead of laying the semifinal flame-out at Summitt's feet, place it where it belongs — squarely on senior forward Shyra Ely. She did not perform to her abilities in the Philadelphia Regional championship game against Rutgers and tanked again in her hometown of Indianapolis during the loss to Michigan State. Some players are able to rise to the occasion; some aren't.

One coach who will always rise to the occasion is Summitt. She'll do just that next season. Summitt isn't college basketball's career leader in coaching wins by accident.

Special fan recalls Pat Summitt's very first game

On Sunday night in Indianapolis, Pat Summitt didn't have to sweep the floors or pull out the bleachers for the fans like she used to back in the early days of women's basketball.

The Henrietta, TN native, who did odd jobs in her early days as the coach at Tennessee, has brought women's basketball a long, long way. And her fans love her for it.

When the Lady Vols played in the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis last weekend, I was lucky enough to be there, along with Coach SUmmitt's many devoted fans.

Almost 29,000 people were on hand to watch the Lady Vols play Michigan St. in the NCAA Women's Final Four. Among those was a woman named Marge Price of Lenior City, Tennessee.

Dressed in a perfectly matched big orange outfit, 70-something Marge cheered juat as loudly as any young gun in the RCA Dome, just as she did back in January of 1974. You see, Marge Price was one of only 54 fans to attend Summitt's very first game as head coach at Tennessee.

"I've been to most since then," she told me.

The crowd Sunday night was 537 times larger than the one in '74, when Summitt picked up her first win against Middle Tennessee State.

Price has a perspective few have, and she has enjoyed following not only UT, but women's basketball in general.

Although she's now older than most of the Lady Vols' fans, her enthusiasm has never waned.

"It's great! Incredible!"

And even after the Lady Vols' heartbreaking loss to Michigan State, it's the loyal fans like Marge Price who insure that win or lose, the Lady Vols are always #1.

Summitt to speak at dinner, auction benefiting center for abused youth

Former Lady Vol player, survivor also guest at 'Scoring for Children'

When basketball season is over, Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt will reunite with a former player for a much more serious game - the battle against child abuse.

Summitt will be keynote speaker at an April 14 fund-raising dinner and auction to benefit the Child Advocacy Center of the 9th Judicial District.

Special guest will be Becky Clark, who made the 1979-80 Lady Vols team as a walk-on, despite a serious hearing impairment and the secret burden of being a child abuse victim.

CAC supporters describe Clark's story of extensive abuse at the hands of an alcoholic stepfather, her survival and ultimate success in life as inspirational. Summitt calls it "heart wrenching."

"Scoring For Children - An Evening With Pat Summitt" is the theme for the $100-per-person fund-raiser to help the Child Advocacy Center reach a goal of $100,000 for a permanent facility. The center serves Loudon, Roane, Morgan and Meigs counties.

Clark, 45, has a doctorate in psychology. She counsels other abuse victims through her therapy practice in New York City and as clinical director for a social service agency in New Jersey.

"This is about giving children who are abused a safe place to disclose their 'secret' along with medical, mental health and legal services," Clark said. "CAC provides these services all in one place, to minimize (repeatedly) traumatizing the child. What makes CAC so unique and effective is the multiple services they provide and coordinate with doctors, forensic interviewers, therapists, law enforcement and the justice system."

She said it is also about helping break the most powerful weapon that abusers have - secrecy. "Take away the secret, so goes the power," Clark said.

As a child, Clark was beaten so badly that she permanently lost 80 percent of her hearing and suffered some vision problems that continue today. And she believes the abuse her twin brother suffered caused him to kill himself.

"He pulled the trigger, but in my heart I know the abuse was the bullet that took his life," she said.

For years, Clark kept the physical, sexual and emotional abuse she suffered a secret from everyone - including Summitt.

"She is one very strong woman," Summitt said of Clark. "There's a lot of toughness there. She has come through a lot. It is just amazing."

Clark was a reserve player on a Lady Vol team that included Holly Warlick, Jill Rankin, Cindy Noble, Debby Groover and Lea Henry. The team went 33-5 and finished second nationally. Clark played in 10 games.

"I told everyone I was born with the (hearing) problem," Clark said. "I was trying to hide my secret and the shame of it all."

Just as in high school, she said, "I didn't want to be different from the other kids."

"She did a great job," Summitt said of Clark's determination to make the team despite her impairment. "And I had no idea of what all else she was going through."

Clark left UT after one year and returned to Memphis to care for an ailing grandmother. She gave up basketball but remained an athlete. In 2001, she ran the New York City marathon on behalf of abused children. In 2002, she was a torchbearer for the Winter Olympics. She is donating her torch to be auctioned at the fund-raiser.

Only after years of therapy did Clark feel comfortable telling her story to others. And Summitt was one of the first people she told.

In a book store in 1998, Clark said, "I got the feeling that somebody was staring at me." She whirled around to see the image of her former coach - on the cover of the book "Reach for the Summitt."

Clark sent Summitt a 13-page handwritten letter. "I spilled my heart to her," said Clark. "I told her how I felt I had let her and the team down, that I was afraid they thought my attitude was that basketball was not important to me, about how it took therapy to help me face up to everything."

Clark said she also told Summitt how her one year as a Lady Vol helped her cope, and eventually to heal. "I took to heart the lessons she had taught us, about facing adversity and going beyond what we thought we possibly can."

"It was heart wrenching to read her letter," Summitt said.

Clark said Summitt's answer was very compassionate and understanding. "What really touched me was the last line of her card. She said, 'Keep the Lady Vol tradition going.' I felt welcomed back into the fold. I will always be a Lady Vol at heart. Once a Lady Vol, always a Lady Vol."

The fund-raiser begins at 6 p.m. at Rothchild Catering and Conference Center. Deadline for required reservations is April 12. Besides individual tickets, groups of eight may reserve a table, and corporate sponsorships are available. For reservations, visit www.caceasttn.org or call the CAC at 865-986-1505.

Tennessee's season ends short of goal -- again

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee coach Pat Summitt picked up loss No. 172, and the Lady Vols left the Final Four again without a trophy.

This is not how Tennessee envisioned the season ending. The Lady Vols finished an up-and-down year on a low by losing to Michigan State in the national semifinals on Sunday in Indianapolis.

The seniors -- Shyra Ely, Loree Moore and Brittany Jackson -- went to four straight Final Fours but could not win it all. Tennessee won its last title in 1998.

``It was a great year overall. You can always sit around and wonder what if. I guess I've been in it long enough to know it's not about what if, it's about what we do have, not what we don't have,'' Summitt said Monday. ``If you look at 30-5 and a Final Four appearance and an SEC tournament championship, these student-athletes have a lot to be proud of.''

Tennessee appeared to be well on its way to giving Summitt her 883rd win and playing for a seventh national championship before Michigan State began a furious rally to erase a 16-point deficit and take the lead with a minute left.

The Lady Vols failed to tie the game when Shanna Zolman missed a 3-pointer, and Alexis Hornbuckle and Nicky Anosike missed consecutive putbacks in the last seconds.

Ely, the season's leading scorer and rebounder, put her hands to her face in shock when the buzzer sounded. The Indianapolis native, who wrote ``Homeward Bound'' on her sneakers during the tournament, had 9 points and eight rebounds.

Summitt watched game tape in her hotel room Sunday night and replayed the final 3 minutes of the game Monday before returning to Knoxville. Then she took a nap.

``Sometimes because the bar is so incredibly high we have to really remind ourselves how successful we've been and see the big picture and not just the last game because only one team in college basketball ends the season with a W,'' Summitt said. ``You've got to keep it in perspective.''

Tennessee lost to a team other than Connecticut in the national semifinals for the first time since 1988, when Louisiana Tech beat the Lady Vols.

Tennessee still accomplished much during the season despite not reaching its annual goal.

Summitt set the NCAA record for career wins when she passed Dean Smith with victory No. 880 in the second round in Knoxville. After the game, university officials announced they were naming the hardwood at Thompson-Boling Arena ``The Summitt'' in her honor.

Another run to the Final Four looked in doubt early this season when Tennessee began 4-2 with losses to Duke and Texas.

The Lady Vols searched for leadership to replace last year's inspired seniors Tasha Butts, Ashley Robinson and LaToya Davis, who led them to the championship game against Connecticut.

The Lady Vols lost two players for the season because of injury and two others redshirted to recover from surgery. Moore missed playing time in December after her tonsils were removed, but she didn't miss any time after breaking her nose in February.

LSU ended the Lady Vols' run of seven straight Southeastern Conference regular-season titles. Tennessee got back at the Lady Tigers by beating them in the championship game of the SEC tournament.

The Lady Vols avenged an embarrassing 65-51 loss to Rutgers in December with a win over the Scarlet Knights in the Philadelphia Regional final to earn their 16th trip to the Final Four.

Tennessee also welcomed six freshmen who comprised a recruiting class many considered the best ever in women's college basketball.

Hornbuckle and Anosike earned starting spots, offering a hint of what's to come for Tennessee.

The Lady Vols look forward to having forward Candace Parker ready to play next season. She redshirted to recover from knee surgery, a disappointment for fans who wanted to see her after she won the dunk contest as a McDonald's high school All-American a year ago.

Others catching up to the Tennessees of the world

INDIANAPOLIS — A Michigan State-Baylor championship game probably is not what ESPN had in mind, but this is an indication that parity is arriving in women's college basketball.

''The two teams that are here for the first time are the two teams that will play for a national championship,'' said Pat Summitt, whose quest for a seventh title ended two victories short.

''We have talked about this for years, but now we're seeing it first-hand. And the women's game has changed tremendously in a good way when you talk about parity.''

Michigan State is a prime example of a program that has risen through the ranks and now finds itself in the championship game. Before this year, the Spartans had not made it to the Sweet 16.

''I think it just speaks to the fact that there's growth and exciting things happening in women's basketball,'' said Spartans Coach Joanne P. McCallie. ''Baylor is a terrific team. So is LSU. So is Tennessee.

''But it's just very exciting for people to learn more about other teams and how teams are just growing and parity is growing.''

Instead of getting caught up in a history lesson about Tennessee's success, Michigan State's players focused on the task at hand.

''It's a new year,'' said forward Liz Shimek. ''You can play tradition or you can play the team that's out there, and I think that's what we really did. We played us versus them and we really focused on that.''

Said guard Lindsay Bowen: ''We all have a lot of respect for Tennessee and Coach Summitt and all those players. But we've got a good coach and good players, too.''

Likewise, Tennessee freshman Alexis Hornbuckle suggested that the Women's Final Four was all about current events, not history.

''There isn't such a thing as a comfort level in the Final Four,'' said Hornbuckle, who had 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. ''We knew we had to keep fighting and we turned our heads. … I am not going to give up until I win a national championship.''

Michigan State benefited from the input of two people that had spent time in Knoxville and thus had some inside knowledge of Tennessee. Spartans assistants Al Brown and Semeka Randall coached and played for Summitt, respectively.

''At Tennessee, you go there to win a national championship,'' Randall said. ''It hasn't been done here. You're creating a legacy.''

After coming up empty on her fourth straight trip to the Women's Final Four, Summitt realizes securing her seventh national title is not going to be easy. The playing field might not be level, but the Tennessees and UConns of the world no longer dominate everyone else.

''I don't think that this is any fluke where it happened one year and that's it,'' Summitt said. ''I think every year you're probably going to see more upsets in first- and second-round play.''

Final Four not kind to seniors

INDIANAPOLIS — When the clock ran out, Shyra Ely walked over to the bench and put her hands over her mouth.

''I didn't believe it,'' Ely said. ''I thought we had five more minutes or something.''

The clock had run out in Tennessee's 68-64 loss to Michigan State, and it had run out on the college careers of Ely and fellow seniors Loree Moore and Brittany Jackson. That group made it to four Final Fours, but came up short each time.

''Not many classes get to do what Shyra, Loree and Brittany have done,'' UT Coach Pat Summitt said. ''It just speaks to the impact that they have had on our program.''

The Final Four has not been kind to Ely in her career, and yesterday was no different. Playing in her hometown, she finished with nine points, but was 4-of-14 from the floor and had five turnovers.

Despite five turnovers, Moore played one of her better games with 11 points and six rebounds.

''I'm really proud of our team for the type of season they have had, and I thought Loree Moore was terrific tonight in pushing tempo and playing the kind of defense she had to play,'' Summitt said.

As freshmen, they lost in the semifinals 79-56 to Connecticut. They lost to the Huskies in the title game 73-68 the following year, and UConn beat Tennessee 70-61 last year in the final.

Freshman Alexis Hornbuckle said she looked Moore in the eye at the beginning of the season and told her that this year's Final Four trip would let her finish out her career with a national title.

Tennessee has not won a title since winning three straight from 1996 to 1998.

''It's like promising a family member something, and then not showing up,'' Hornbuckle said.

Hornbuckle can't take much of the blame. She led Tennessee with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, had six assists and eight rebounds.

UT junior Shanna Zolman finished with 13 points.

Michigan State got four players in double figures during their run that turned a 16-point deficit into a lead. Tennessee had 18 turnovers in the game — most of those coming during the Spartans' run.

Lindsay Bowen led all scorers with 18.

Earlier in the night, LSU suffered a similar fate at the hands of Baylor. The Lady Tigers led 24-9 in the first half, but the Lady Bears had the game tied by halftime and pulled away for a 68-57 win.

''The first thing that went through my mind was the LSU-Baylor game, because that was the same exact thing that happened,'' Zolman said. ''We knew they were going to make a run.''

This was a homecoming for both Zolman (Syracuse, Ind.) and Ely (Indianapolis).

''I don't care where it's at,'' Zolman said. ''It could be in Alaska, and I wouldn't care. It's a loss.

''Obviously, it's all the excitement of coming into it, yeah, there's all the hype coming in, playing in your home state, in front of home family and crowd, but a loss is a loss. It doesn't matter if it's here or Nova Scotia, it's a loss.''

• Michigan State assistant coach Al Brown, who worked on Summitt's staff from 1995-2002, picked up a technical foul in last night's game. Zolman's free throws made it a 51-40 game at that point.

• Former Vols quarterback Peyton Manning attended last night's game. He sat a few rows behind the UT bench. Former Lady Vols Ashley Robinson and Kara Lawson were also at the game.

Baylor takes down LSU

INDIANAPOLIS — The end of Baylor's remarkable, uplifting redemption story will be told on the final night of the season.

Resilient when they fell behind, determined when they got the lead, the Lady Bears are going to the national championship game.

Baylor got 21 points from Sophia Young and major contributions from Emily Niemann and Abiola Wabara to beat LSU 68-57 last night in an impressive Final Four debut for a program that once was the worst in the Big 12.

''Wow! That's a good team we just beat,'' said Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, who looked misty-eyed as she pumped two fists up to the roaring Baylor fans.

The Lady Bears (32-3) have brought a new feeling of pride to a campus stained by scandal in the men's basketball program. They'll take a 19-game winning streak — the longest one going in NCAA women's basketball — into the title game tomorrow night, when they'll meet the winner of last late game between six-time national champion Tennessee and Final Four newcomer Michigan State.

LSU (33-3), seeded No. 1 overall in the NCAA Tournament, jumped out to an early 15-point lead but the Lady Bears came storming back to tie it at halftime. The Lady Tigers, who looked restless at times on offense, also failed to hold onto a six-point lead in the second half.

Baylor just wouldn't go away and went ahead to stay when Chelsea Whitaker, who had eight turnovers in the regional final against North Carolina, sank two free throws for a 52-51 lead with 6:17 remaining.

Young then picked off an LSU pass into the post and Baylor capitalized with Wabara's three-point play for a 55-51 lead. When Young hit a jumper 30 seconds later, Baylor led 57-51 and the Lady Bears had the cushion they needed to hang on down the stretch.

Not even national player of the year Seimone Augustus could save LSU, which missed too many shots against Baylor's 3-2 zone and faltered badly at the end.

Augustus scored 22 points but shot just 10-for-26 and was 0-for-4 from 3-point range.

''Things just didn't fall the way we wanted them to fall,'' Augustus said. ''As far as the team goes, I thought we had a pretty good chance to win the title. To a certain extent, I felt we gave it away. We just didn't fight. They had the fight in their eyes and we didn't.''

Sylvia Fowles, LSU's muscular 6-foot-5 freshman, added 13 points and 12 rebounds and Temeka Johnson had 14 points and seven assists.

But it just wasn't enough against Baylor's defense — the Lady Bears have won 76 games in a row when holding opponents under 59 points.

Niemann gave Baylor a big lift off the bench with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting and Wabara was a difference-maker with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting.

''Its been like that all year, we've had different players step up,'' Mulkey-Robertson said. ''We're not a two-dimensional team with (Steffanie) Blackmon and Sophia Wow, we're playing for a national championship at Baylor University!''

Wabara went scoreless and played only six minutes in Baylor's 71-70 loss to LSU back on Nov. 14, a game in which the Lady Bears rallied from a 21-point deficit.

Mulkey-Robertson has needed just five years to get Baylor to the biggest game in its history.

Collapse costs UT

INDIANAPOLIS — They had never been there before.

They trailed by 16 in the second half.

They were playing the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history.

The Spartans didn't care.

Michigan State advanced to its first national championship game with a 68-64 come-from-behind win over Tennessee in front of a sellout crowd of 28,937 at the RCA Dome.

''I don't understand it, because it's not the way we played to get here,'' Lady Vol Coach Pat Summitt said.

Michigan State will play Baylor tomorrow night for the national title. The Lady Bears beat the tournament's No. 1 overall seed LSU 68-57 in last night's first game.

''Any way you look at it, it is disappointing,'' said UT senior Shyra Ely, who went 4-of-14 from the floor and had six turnovers in her hometown.

''Never did I think we would lose.''

The Lady Vols (30-5) watched helplessly as their 16-point lead slipped away. Michigan State's comeback ties the biggest in the history of the Final Four.

Victoria Lucas-Perry scored seven consecutive points to bring the Spartans (33-3) within 57-56, and she tied it at 62 on a pair of free throws minutes later. The Spartans took the lead when point guard Kristin Haynie stole a pass from Shanna Zolman and laid it in at the other end.

''That was one of the greatest steals I've ever seen in my life,'' Michigan State Coach Joanne P. McCallie said.

Trailing 66-64, Tennessee got the look it wanted with a 3-pointer by Zolman, but the shot rimmed out. Putbacks by freshmen Alexis Hornbuckle and Nicky Anosike also missed.

Tennessee looked to be in firm control of the game when it quickly ran its lead out to 45-29 with a 14-2 run to start off the second half.

''Remember this feeling,'' Hornbuckle said. ''Every time you work out in the summer and the preseason, when you think you can't make it, remember this feeling.''

Spartans Upset Lady Vols in Final Four

INDIANAPOLIS - Michigan State's climb to national prominence took the Spartans all the way over Rocky Top. Down by 16 points in the second half, Michigan State rallied — tying the largest comeback in Final Four history — then finished off Tennessee with a pair of fast-break baskets to complete the 68-64 upset Sunday night. The win sets up Tuesday's title game with Baylor, another unlikely championship contender.

"This team has the heart of a lion," Michigan State coach Joanne P. McCallie said, her players bouncing and hugging with wide-eyed looks of disbelief on their faces.

Trailing 45-29 with 16:02 left, Michigan State wouldn't quit and finally caught the Lady Vols at 62-62 on two free throws by Victoria Lucas-Perry with 1:20 left. Moments later, Michigan State point guard Kristin Haynie made a steal and layup to put the Big Ten champions ahead.

Tennessee's Loree Moore then tied it with a runner in the lane, but Spartans senior center Kelli Roehrig scored underneath to make it 66-64 with 35 seconds to play.

The Lady Vols (30-5) then missed a 3-pointer and two inside shots before the ball dropped in the hands of Roehrig, who fed Lucas-Perry for a layup with 2.7 seconds left to complete the remarkable comeback.

The Spartans' last two baskets were their only fast-break points of the night.

Michigan State's rally tied the largest in Final Four history. In 2001, Notre Dame came back from 16 down to beat Connecticut. But the Spartans didn't pull off the night's only jaw-dropping return to life: Baylor had to overcome a 15-point deficit in the game before to take out overall No. 1 seed LSU.

Baylor, whose uplifting tale of redemption is the feel-good story in this tournament, advanced to its first national championship game with a 68-57 victory.

The Spartans (33-3) danced and hugged in a circle as the final horn sounded on their game. McCallie said it wouldn't take long for her to get started preparing for the Lady Bears.

"By Midnight," she said. "Baylor's a fantastic team, and they had a terrific game also, and we're very excited, and midnight, we got til about midnight."

Just four years ago, Michigan State wasn't even among the best teams in its conference. In 2000, McCallie's first year, the Spartans won only 10 games.

But McCallie, the AP's coach of the year this season who turned tiny Maine into a national power, recruited Haynie and Roehrig and got the rest of the Spartans to believe.

Now they're one win away from a national title, something the school's men's team couldn't do this weekend in St. Louis.

Lindsay Bowen had 18 points and Lucas-Perry and Liz Shimek 14 apiece for the Spartans, who have won 17 straight.

Tennessee, meanwhile, had another solid season end in disbelief and a victory shy of a seventh national title. Despite making their fourth straight Final Four appearance and 16th overall under coach Pat Summitt, the Lady Vols haven't won a national title since 1998 — a drought for the queens of college basketball.

"It will be a long time before I get this one out of my system," Summit said. "I'm sure the players feel the same way."

The devastating loss for Tennessee puts a disappointing finish to a season in which Summitt became the winningest coach in college basketball history. But win No. 883 will have to wait until next season.

Freshman Alexis Hornbuckle had 16 points and Indiana native Shanna Zolman added 13 for the Lady Vols, who appeared in control in the second half before their uncharacteristic fold.

With Indianapolis Colts quarterback and proud Tennessee alum Peyton Manning cheering from a few rows behind their bench, the Lady Vols opened the second half with a 14-4 run to open their biggest lead.

The Spartans looked tired and ready to pack it in when all of a sudden they found their shooting touch and new life. Bowen's 3-pointer capped a 14-2 spurt that pulled Michigan State within 51-47 with 9:13 to go.

Lucas-Perry then hit two 3-pointers and scored eight straight points to get Michigan State within 57-56, sending the Spartans fans into a frenzy. Zolman's 3-pointer with 3:45 left gave Tennessee a six-point cushion, but the Lady Vols made some careless turnovers — one a pass that Summitt snagged in front of her bench — to help Michigan State's rally.

Haynie's steal was the biggest play. Regarded as one of the nation's finest point guards, she had scored just two points before stepping in front of Zolman's pass and dribbling nearly the length of the floor for her basket.

"She was just so hungry, so hungry to get after it, and she sees the great opportunity to go for it," McCallie said.

Roehrig also redeemed herself after missing an easy layup a few moments earlier with her inside shot, which came after the burly center flattened Tye'sha Fluker in the lane.

But it was Lucas-Perry's layup that finally dropped Tennessee for good.

Pat Pix

Tennessee coach Pat Summitt signals her team in the first half against Michigan State in a national semifinal game at the NCAA Women's Final Four Sunday, April 3, 2005, in Indianapolis.


Tennessee coach Pat Summitt talks to guard Shanna Zolman (1) during a time out in their national semifinal game against Michigan State at the NCAA Women's Final Four Sunday, April 3, 2005, in Indianapolis.


University of Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt calls out a play while her team plays Michigan State during the first half of their semifinal game of the NCAA Women's Final Four tournament in Indianapolis, April 3, 2005.

Lady Vols have friends on other side

INDIANAPOLIS — Three quick dribbles. The left arm swings back. Pause. Follow through.

Shyra Ely goes through that simple routine every time she steps to the free throw line. And with that, Al Brown's influence on Tennessee women's basketball still shows up — every time Ely steps to the free throw line.

Ely, now a senior, got only one year of Brown's tutelage at Tennessee, but the impact he had on her freshman year — and her free throw shooting — still runs deep.

''He's a smart coach, really cerebral,'' Ely said. ''He knows how to break down a team, break down players. Longwinded, but he's a great coach.''

Brown spent two years as an assistant in UT's men's program, and he worked on Pat Summitt's staff from 1995 to 2002. The Lady Vols won three national championships during that stretch.

Now, Brown is on the other sideline, as an assistant coach for Michigan State. The Spartans (32-3) play the Lady Vols (30-4) in the Final Four tonight at 8:30 at the RCA Dome.

''The mistake that you could make as a coach is to assume, 'Well, I was at Tennessee, and we did all this, and I know this,''' Brown said. ''And you overlook exactly what they're doing now. I certainly avoid that.''

Brown, in his first year at Michigan State, won't be the only coach with orange ties. Former Lady Vol Semeka Randall is also in her first year on Joanne P. McCallie's staff.

Brown and Randall have more experience with the Final Four than anybody associated with the Spartans, who are making their first Final Four appearance. McCallie was an assistant coach on the Auburn teams that went to the title game in 1988 and 1989.

But Brown went to five Final Fours as an assistant at Tennessee, and Randall was a freshman when the Lady Vols went undefeated in 1998. She has tried to make it clear to her players exactly what happens to Tennessee this time of year.

''You go through the season and you get all the tweaks out,'' Randall said. ''March Madness hits, and the whole team just transforms. The focus gets real intense. Details become very important.''

Randall's group in 1998 was the last Lady Vol team to win a national title.

''Let's keep it that way,'' she said.

The seven-year drought is referred to as unacceptable by several of the current Tennessee players.

''I think the problem with a Connecticut or a Tennessee is you create such a monster as a coach,'' Brown said. ''Anything short of winning a national championship is somewhat disappointing. That shouldn't be that way.''

That is not the case at Michigan State, Brown said.

''It's a great difference because of the enjoyment of the community, the excitement, the thrill the players have,'' Brown said.

That's not to say that Brown is down on Tennessee. In fact, he walked right up to Ely at a banquet on Friday night and greeted her with a cheery ''Hey Lefty'' and a big hug.

Brown is still the same X's and O's coach that he was at Tennessee, and his post players are putting up numbers that look pretty similar to the Lady Vols of the late '90s. Junior forward Liz Shimek and senior center Kelli Roehrig are combining for 28.5 points and 16.5 rebounds a game.

The biggest difference in Brown is wardrobe. Always known for his suits while in Knoxville, he has taken a different route this season.

''Somehow I got started in sweaters this year, and it's become something that's just kind of turned into a runaway animal,'' he said. ''I told my wife I've got to go out and buy some new sweaters. Being around women, you can't wear the same sweater twice.''

Despite her move to the sidelines, Randall hasn't changed much since leaving Tennessee either.

''I was curious to see how she was going to be as a coach,'' Summitt said. ''She was always a real competitive player and tough, and I was anxious to see if she could put those tennis shoes aside and really think about being a coach. And she said she really likes it.''

Randall is catching just as much flak for her change in dress code as Brown. She has friends and family ask her constantly about her new partiality to the color green.

''They say the orange looks better,'' Randall said. ''But this is my suit for now.''

Nicky Pushed to Summitt

April 3, 2005 -- INDIANAPOLIS — It's all about getting there, insist both Roy Williams, who has never won it all, and Pat Summit, who has won six times. She can point to the tangible benefits of merely showing up at five of the last seven Final Fours since Tennessee's last NCAA women's title in 1998.

All that banging of Summitt's head on UConn's brick wall obviously didn't knock any of the charm out of her or her storied program. "Best recruiting class ever" is what many have called this year's freshmen, or what's left of them.

Candace Parker, who has a chance to be one of the best ever, and Alex Fuller missed the entire season with bum knees, and Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood succumbed to knee surgery in February.

But somehow two freshmen starters, guard Alexis Hornbuckle and center Nicky Anosike, survived.

No surprise in Anosike's case, she's from New York, specifically Staten Island, and therefore has to be tough as they come. So tough, in fact, Anosike could make herself leave Mom and seven siblings for Knoxville, Tenn.

"I never thought I could do it," she said.

"My mom bought a house [in East Orange, N.J.], and waited for me to finish high school [St. Peter's] to move there, only 45 minutes from Rutgers. I was thinking about Rutgers for awhile.

"UConn first wanted Laura Harper. When she withdrew [to go to Maryland], they tried to recruit me again, but I had scratched them off my list. My heart was already at Tennessee. When my mother looks at Pat, she sees a lot of herself. They've both defeated a lot of adversity in their lives."

If Ngozi Anosike's sixth of her eight children didn't want to play for Summitt, then could she maybe use a registered nurse?

"I remember during the visit Ngozi saying, 'Now, when Nicky gets to Tennessee, and Nicky looked at her like, 'Mom?' and Ngozi just kept on, 'No, this is the place you need to be.' " recalled Summitt. "Her Mom had watched [Tennessee] on TV and liked the discipline.

"She's a woman of small stature, yet extremely disciplined and very demanding. We talked about academics. Here, you don't go to class, you don't play."

Tennessee got a terrific student (3.65 first semester GPA) and its first big New York recruit since its greatest recruit of all, Christ the King's Chamique Holdsclaw.

"Chamique was a no-brainer, the best player in the country and obviously the most influential in the history of Lady Vol basketball," said Summitt. "Nicky was a little different.

"The afternoon I saw her play, I had to look at the potential. admire her drive and intensity. I saw something special, a great student cut out of a different cloth."

Summitt, whose Lady Vols play Michigan State after Baylor faces favored LSU tonight, wears pantsuits that, after 882 wins, hardly are the Empress' clothes. When she sat with Anosike on a bench near St. Peters, watching the Staten Island ferry and delivering the pitch, Anosike couldn't bring herself to look at the coach.

For reason she "can't explain," Anosike still can't. But it's much more important Summitt likes what she sees, like 11.3 points, 8.0 rebounds in four tournament games, plus eight trips per game to the free-throw line. There, Anosike has nailed 77 percent, only 23 per cent less perfect than her coach's and mother's instincts about each other.