College Women's Basketball Capsules: No. 5 Tennessee downs Vanderbilt 69-60
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Coaching is never easy in Memorial Gym, not with the benches on the end lines. Pat Summitt couldn't be happier at how her Tennessee Lady Vols responded Monday night.
Kelley Cain scored a career-high 19 points, and fifth-ranked Tennessee rallied and beat Vanderbilt 69-60 for the Lady Vols' fifth straight victory.
Summitt said her Lady Vols (21-2, 9-1 Southeastern Conference) easily could have lost a second straight visit to Memorial Gym, something they've never done in consecutive seasons and not since 1985 and 1987 when the teams played only once a season. She was telling them not to lose this game when she noticed something.
"Right then, they started talking about what they needed to do. It wasn't the coaches," Summitt said. "It was the players. When they take the ownership, you'll have better execution. Because it's coming from them, and they want it."
Angie Bjorklund credited Cain's play and Shekinna Stricklen for speaking up.
"Once a teammate says we need to pick it up, it builds a lot more energy. It's different coming from a teammate," Bjorklund said.
The Lady Vols used their superior size to pound the Commodores inside and beat their instate rival for the 22nd time on their own floor after losing here 74-57 last season — just the seventh loss by Tennessee in this series.
"It's a new year," Cain said, who also had five blocked shots. "It's not like we're dwelling on last year. We're concentrating on this year. We hate to lose to anybody, but we also learned you don't lose to Vanderbilt."
Vanderbilt (17-7, 6-5) saw its three-game winning streak end.
Bjorklund, Alyssia Brewer and Glory Johnson all finished with 10 points for Tennessee.
Merideth Marsh led Vanderbilt with 19 points. Jence Rhoads added 15, and Lauren Lueders 12.
Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 64-57 in Knoxville on Jan. 17, a game in which the Lady Vols managed only a one-rebound difference on the boards. On a snowy night in Nashville where about half the 6,005 fans wore orange, the Lady Vols took much better advantage of having 10 players 6-foot or taller compared to Vandy's five such 6-footers and dominated 41-30.
"We let Bjorklund get open for two wide-open 3s down the stretch, you're going to lose," said Melanie Balcomb, who's now 2-16 all-time against Tennessee. "You give away rebound after rebound ... After they outrebounded us over and over, it was kind of like our sails went, ssssshh, down."
In a meeting of the SEC's top shooting teams, Tennessee also finished with a big edge there as well (44.6 percent to 37 percent) to overcome Vanderbilt's 7-of-16 shooting from 3-point range.
"We have a confidence in ourselves this year," Cain said. "If we get down, we have to take it one play at a time to get back in. ... Leesy (Brewer) might be 2 inches shorter than I am, and we're kind of built the same so it has to be a nightmare for people to guard two people 6-4."
The score was tied six times in the first half, including at 28 at halftime.
Lueders hit a 3 from the right corner to open the second half and keep Vanderbilt ahead. The teams put on a sluggish and physical display, especially when Stricklen got a technical foul for giving a hip check to Jessica Mooney as the Vanderbilt guard came up to her as the Lady Vols tried to inbound the ball with 14:20 left.
Summitt said she'd never seen that called as a technical in her 36 seasons.
The Commodores led 47-40 when Rhoads scored on a layup, then Tiffany Clarke hit two free throws with 8:41 remaining.
Then Bjorklund, the SEC's top 3-point shooter, finally got going.
She hit her first 3 with 8:27 left. Cain hit two free throws, then Alicia Manning scored on a layup, Bjorklund hit another long jumper. Cain blocked a shot, Manning got the rebound and then finished off the fast-break with a layup to give Tennessee the lead for good at 52-51 with 5:36 left — the Lady Vols' first since 14-12.
Cain next stole the ball from Hannah Tuomi, and Manning had another layup. Vanderbilt stayed close, but Glory Johnson, who played only five minutes of the first half with two personal fouls, scored on a layup for her first field goal of the game. She also hit a jumper on the Lady Vols' next trip down the court.
From there, the Lady Vols just put away the victory.
"I think we kind of gave it to them," said Rhoads, who missed the game in Knoxville with a broken hand. "Bjorklund made some big shots at the end, but it's mostly what we didn't do and gave them the game."
No. 8 Duke routs No. 18 UNC, 79-51
DURHAM, N.C. — The points came from some new people for No. 8 Duke. The rebounds came from just about everybody.
The result: One of the Blue Devils' more lopsided routs of their fiercest rival.
"This is the kind of game we like to have more often than not," coach Joanne P. McCallie said.
It's not hard to see why. Duke dominated nearly every stat category during a 79-51 rout of No. 18 North Carolina on Monday night. While six players scored in double figures, the usual stars took a back seat to some unfamiliar faces.
Bridgette Mitchell and Keturah Jackson scored 12 points apiece, Krystal Thomas had 11 and three players each added 10 for the first-place Blue Devils (19-4, 7-1). They never trailed and built a 52-28 rebounding advantage — 35-12 in the second half — to avoid their first ACC losing streak in a decade.
"The team deserves all the credit — there's no Xs and Os for that," McCallie said of the rebounding disparity. "That's players getting after it and totally controlling the game from the board end. ... Our team really needs to think about this game a little bit, in terms of, what are the possibilities? How good can we be? How can we grow from this experience? Because we sure showed on some numbers, and that's very important."
She'la White and Laura Broomfield had 10 points each to lead the slumping Tar Heels (16-6, 4-4), who had no shortage of reasons why they stumbled to their first three-game losing streak in ACC play since 2001-02 and absorbed their worst loss to Duke since 2003.
They had 25 turnovers, shot 24 percent in the second half and managed just two field goals over a stretch of roughly 11 minutes in which this one got out of hand.
Not surprisingly, nothing disappointed rebounding-obsessed North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell quite like the way her team was pushed around on the glass.
"We'll keep working until we find the right buttons and the right answers," Hatchell said. "We're going to have to bring the football players in to do drills, it looks like, so we can put bodies on people."
When North Carolina pulled to 11 midway through the second half and threatened to make things competitive down the stretch, Duke responded with an overwhelming run that turned it into a laugher.
Jackson hit a 3 with less than 12 minutes left and Krystal Thomas had baskets on consecutive trips downcourt to start the late 27-8 run that pushed the Blue Devils' lead to 30. Mitchell's free throw with 5:39 remaining made it 67-47, and Kathleen Scheer's layup with 27 seconds left made it 79-49.
Allison Vernerey, Shay Selby and Jasmine Thomas had 10 points apiece for the Blue Devils, who proved they could win convincingly even without big scoring contributions from their two top offensive playmakers.
"That's the power of team," McCallie said. "That's the power of everybody."
Jasmine Thomas barely played in the first half because of foul trouble and hit just 3 of 15 shots while Joy Cheek had just five points — half of her average.
North Carolina's top scorer, Italee Lucas, had as many points (six) as turnovers and finished 10 points shy of her average. Backcourt mate Cetera DeGraffenreid, who averages 13 points, missed all eight shots she attempted and finished with six points on free throws.
"My mindset was to shut them down," Jackson said. "They're going to score throughout the course of the game, but you want to limit that as much as possible. And if you can completely shut them down, that's just great."
Said Hatchell: "We've got to get Italee Lucas and Cetera DeGraffenreid playing better, or they're going to have to go to the bench."
Both teams limped back to the state's Triangle region late last week after long road trips ended in upset losses, and the schools entering their rivalry after defeats for the first time since 1997. While Duke was losing at Boston College, the Tar Heels were being knocked off by Miami — a loss that helped sink them to their lowest ranking since they were 19th late in 2001-02.
Upsets generally have been the exception in this series: the higher-ranked team has won 38 of 52 matchups when both teams were in the Top 25. But in both meetings last year, the lower-ranked teams won on their home courts.
That wasn't about to happen this time — and it was clear from the opening tip.
Coming off that lethargic loss in Boston, Duke scored the first 10 points of this one during a game-opening 16-4 run. The lead grew to 25-11 after it forced the Tar Heels to miss 14 of their first 19 shots.
Perhaps more impressively, the Blue Devils mostly did it without their two top players. Foul trouble limited Jasmine Thomas to six minutes and Cheek to seven, but with them on the bench, Duke's lead grew to 15 on Selby's 3 from the corner with 5½ minutes before the break.
"We gave a game away," McCallie said of the BC loss. "That's a really painful feeling. I think our team understood that ... 20 minutes wasn't enough."
-- Joedy McCreary
No. 21 Georgia Tech reaches 20 wins beats Clemson
CLEMSON, S.C. — MaChelle Joseph was glad her Georgia Tech seniors got to enjoy another milestone in her program's rise the past seven seasons.
And the Yellow Jackets coach thinks there could be more special moments ahead this winter.
"Like we talked about the last few weeks, we're either contenders or pretenders and we've got some great opportunities," Joseph said.
No. 21 Georgia Tech reached 20 wins for the fourth straight season with a 68-53 victory over Clemson on Monday night.
Brigitte Ardossi, a senior who's been a key part of the Yellow Jackets' Atlantic Coast Conference rise, had her fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Now, after a week off, Georgia Tech (20-5, 6-3 ACC) will face two of the teams it must chase down to win a league crown in No. 10 Florida State and No. 8 Duke.
"Our goal is definitely to get to the ACC championship game," Ardossi said. "I know we've talked about it. If we get to that game, we're definitely setting ourselves up for the NCAA tournament."
Particularly, if the Yellow Jackets pressure opponents like they did the Tigers (11-14, 2-7). They forced Clemson into 25 turnovers and held the team to less than 32 percent shooting. Ardossi had four of her team's 16 steals and added two blocks.
Clemson star Lele Hardy, the team's leading scorer, finished with 13 points after missing all four of her shots in the opening half.
"I was pleased with the way we got after it defensively," Joseph said. "Anytime you hold a team to around 50 points on their home floor, you're doing something good."
The Yellow Jackets had only two 20-win seasons in their history before Joseph became coach before the 2003-04. Now, they're just three away from the program record for most victories in a season set in 1978.
Ardossi helped Georgia Tech take control of this one early with eight points during a 20-8 first-half run that put it ahead 27-16.
Clemson could not rally and lost its 44th straight against ranked opponents, a streak that dates to Nov. 2003.
It was Ardossi's fifth game this season with double figure points and rebounds.
Deja Foster scored 16 points for Georgia Tech, Sasha Goodlett had 14 and Alex Montgomery 10.
It's not coincidence that Georgia Tech's successful stretch began with the arrival of Ardossi, a 6-foot-2 forward from Australia.
"She helps them tremendously," Clemson coach Cristy McKinney said. "She's picked it up and become a scorer for them."
Joseph recalls the difficulties of finding skilled players also capable of meeting her school's demanding academic load. "Building this program those first three years, it was rough," she said. "Looking where we've come from and where we are today, it just says a lot about the players who're in this program."
And perhaps where they want to go this season.
Georgia Tech could've gotten trapped peeking past the Tigers — the Yellow Jackets have won nine of 10 in the series — to the bigger games next week that could determine their ACC title chances.
Soon enough, though, Georgia Tech found its pressure defense to take control.
Hardy's two foul shots put the Tigers up 8-7 with just more than five minutes gone. That's when the Yellow Jackets went on a 20-8 surge the next 10 minutes to move in front.
Ardossi was a big reason for the run, twice finishing three-point plays for Georgia Tech.
Foster and Ardossi finished the half with 10 points apiece for Georgia Tech, which shot better than 55 percent for the period.
Clemson had few answers against the Yellow Jackets defense, committing 16 turnovers and making just 8 of 29 foul shots.
Hardy, among the ACC's top 10 scorers at No. 8, was 0 of 4 from the field the first 20 minutes. She had seven steals and five of the Tigers 25 turnovers.
Clemson came within nine points in the second half on April Parker's bucket with 7:27 to go.
However, Ardossi responded again with a pair of baskets that extended the Yellow Jackets lead to 58-44.
Parker had 10 points, the only other Clemson player in double figures. The Tigers had their troubles from the outside, ending at 31.7 percent (20-of-63) overall and just 3 of 14 on 3-pointers.
"Making shots has been a challenge for a while, I wish I had an answer," said McKinney, Clemson's fifth year coach. "At some point, it's an accountability thing and (the players) have to take some responsibility for that."
-- Pete Iacobelli
AP Poll
Nebraska moves up to No. 3 in women's Top 25 poll
Nebraska keeps winning and climbing up the Top 25.
The unbeaten Cornhuskers (21-0) moved past Notre Dame to No. 3 on Monday in The Associated Press women's basketball poll. Nebraska trailed the Irish in the poll by 27 points last week, but were buoyed by victories over then-No. 10 Oklahoma State and 12th-ranked Texas A&M to move two points in front.
"They are still undefeated and are beating some pretty good teams," said voter Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, who had Nebraska No. 2 on his ballot this week. "They've played a lot of teams that have been ranked in the top 10 and beat them all. They haven't really had a close game."
Sounds like a familiar scenario to UConn, which remained No. 1 for a record 38th straight week. The Huskies (23-0) routed West Virginia and Louisville this week. Connecticut has won 62 straight games, all by double digits.
Stanford remained second with Notre Dame falling to fourth — despite winning twice this past week — and Tennessee fifth.
While there wasn't much surprise at UConn's continued success, the Cornhuskers didn't even start the season ranked and didn't crack the Top 25 until the fourth week of the season. Before this run, Nebraska's highest ranking had been 12th in 1997.
Nebraska, which will visit Kansas on Wednesday and Missouri on Saturday, has won most of its games by double digits with Miami being the only team to come within five points.
The Hurricanes knocked off North Carolina this week, dropping the Tar Heels nine spots to 18th. North Carolina, which also lost to then-No. 15 Florida State, hasn't been this low in the rankings since being No. 19 on Feb. 25, 2002.
North Carolina may drop even further next week after getting blown out by No. 8 Duke on Monday night. The Blue Devils fell two spots after losing at Boston College. Xavier and Ohio State moved up to sixth and seventh. Despite a 33-point loss to UConn, West Virginia moved up to ninth — its best ranking ever. Florida State jumped up five places to 10th.
Baylor climbed four spots to No. 11, starting a run of five straight Big 12 teams. The Bears were followed by Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas, and Oklahoma State.
Georgetown moved up two places to 16th. The Hoyas were followed by Kentucky, which is in second in the Southeastern Conference. The Tar Heels were next followed by Georgia and Iowa State — the seventh Big 12 team in the poll.
Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, LSU, TCU, and St. John's rounded out the poll. After falling out a week earlier, TCU re-entered the Top 25. Wisconsin-Green Bay was the lone team to exit the poll.
-- Doug Feinberg
The Women's AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in the The Associated Press' women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 7, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
| Record | Pts | Pvs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Connecticut (40) | 23-0 | 1,000 | 1 |
| 2. Stanford | 21-1 | 959 | 2 |
| 3. Nebraska | 21-0 | 896 | 4 |
| 4. Notre Dame | 21-1 | 894 | 3 |
| 5. Tennessee | 20-2 | 850 | 5 |
| 6. Xavier | 18-3 | 775 | 7 |
| 7. Ohio St. | 23-3 | 740 | 8 |
| 8. Duke | 18-4 | 709 | 6 |
| 9. West Virginia | 21-3 | 627 | 11 |
| 10. Florida St. | 20-4 | 593 | 15 |
| 11. Baylor | 17-5 | 537 | 15 |
| 12. Oklahoma | 16-6 | 511 | 13 |
| 13. Texas A&M | 16-5 | 510 | 12 |
| 14. Texas | 16-6 | 475 | 17 |
| 15. Oklahoma St. | 18-5 | 436 | 10 |
| 16. Georgetown | 19-3 | 402 | 18 |
| 17. Kentucky | 20-3 | 372 | 20 |
| 18. North Carolina | 16-5 | 358 | 9 |
| 19. Georgia | 19-5 | 323 | 14 |
| 20. Iowa St. | 18-4 | 210 | 22 |
| 21. Georgia Tech | 19-5 | 205 | 21 |
| 22. Gonzaga | 19-4 | 118 | 24 |
| 23. LSU | 15-7 | 93 | 19 |
| 24. TCU | 17-5 | 70 | — |
| 25. St. John's | 19-4 | 68 | 25 |
Others receiving votes: Vanderbilt 64, Hartford 60, Virginia 56, Wis.-Green Bay 29, Mississippi 12, Michigan St. 11, Miami 10, South Carolina 6, Princeton 5, Penn St. 4, Dayton 3, Middle Tennessee 3, East Carolina 2, Marist 2, Fresno St. 1, Syracuse 1.
News & Notes
N.C. State working on memorial for Yow
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina State students are raising money for a memorial to the late women's basketball coach Kay Yow.
Students are working to raise $85,000 to complete the project. It would include a small garden and a bust of Yow in front of Reynolds Coliseum, where the Hall of Fame coach led the Wolfpack for more than three decades before her death last year following a long fight with cancer.
A news release from the school says students have raised more than $35,000 for the project through private donations, and T-shirt sales at home games and on campus. It is slated to be finished in April.
South Carolina's Bone earns SEC freshman honors
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina center Kelsey Bone has been named Southeastern Conference freshman of the week for the third time this season.
The 6-foot-5 Bone scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in South Carolina's 61-58 victory at Auburn last Thursday night. Then on Sunday, Bone had eight points and six rebounds to help the Gamecocks beat No. 14 Georgia, 52-42.
It was the first time South Carolina had won consecutive SEC road games since the 2005-06 season.
Miami's Johnson, NC State's Kastanek honored
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Miami sophomore guard Shenise Johnson and North Carolina State freshman guard Marissa Kastanek have earned this week's Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball player awards.
Johnson scored 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out six assists and matched a career-high with eight steals as Miami defeated then-No. 9 North Carolina, 80-69. She followed that with 16 points in a victory over SIU-Edwardsville.
Kastanek scored a team-high 19 points to lead N.C. State to a 70-57 victory over Virginia Tech on Sunday.
