The last time Tennessee went into the SEC Tournament as the No. 2 seed, the Lady Vols brought home a championship trophy.
After four straight years of taking top honors in the regular season, UT (23-4) finds itself in an unfamiliar place. Top-ranked LSU beat Tennessee 68-58 on Feb. 10 to bump the Lady Vols to the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
While Tennessee has dominated its way through the regular season in the past few years, the team has struggled in SEC Tournament action. The Lady Vols last won the tournament in 2000.
Since then, they’ve been knocked out of the tournament in the semifinals in all but one year. In 2003, the Lady Vols made it back to the championship game but were soundly defeated by LSU.
Tennessee is hoping that being denied the regular-season title will pay dividends in tournament action.
“We’ve won the past three regular seasons but lost the last three tournaments,” senior forward Shyra Ely said. “Maybe it’s time to turn the tables and win the tournament games.”
Part of Tennessee’s plan for returning to tournament glory will rely on Ely continuing her recent strong play. Since a dismal performance in the loss to LSU, Ely has found her comfort zone back at the power forward position, averaging 21.8 points over the last five games.
“I thought (changing Ely’s position) might help us be a little more efficient in terms of turnovers,” UT coach Pat Summitt said. “I thought that’s where Shyra was struggling a little bit — decision-making at the three. I think it has had a big impact on rebounding and scoring.
“Her efficiency has helped us to really improve our overall percentages inside and as a team.”
Moving Ely out to the power forward spot has also freed up the small forward position for freshman Alexis Hornbuckle.
Hornbuckle and forward Nicky Anosike were chosen to the SEC All-Freshman team. Ely was a first-team All-SEC selection, while junior guard Shanna Zolman was a second-team pick.
To Summitt, part of the appeal of this year’s team has been the lack of one true star.
“I am really pleased with the balance our team has had this year,” Summitt said. “I think that is obviously a reason that we had four players who got recognition in SEC honors. Shyra and Shanna have been two players that we have relied on heavily offensively, and they both have had some big, big games for us.
“Our two freshmen, Alexis and Nicky, have been really consistent in terms of their effort, and they have made a difference for us.”
Individual contributions will become increasingly important as the postseason unfolds. Combining the lessons each player has learned throughout the season makes the postseason tournaments one big final exam.
“I go in optimistic,” Summitt said. “But we’ve been in this business long enough to know that players have to bring it themselves when it comes to game time. The leadership has to be there, which we’re counting on from our seniors.”
Tennessee begins postseason play with a 3:15 p.m. contest today against the winner of Thursday’s game between seventh-seeded Auburn (15-12) and 10th-seeded Kentucky (15-14).
A win in today’s quarterfinal action would place the Lady Vols in a potential rematch with third-seeded Vanderbilt (21-6). Tennessee has beaten the Commodores twice this season but has been knocked out by Vanderbilt twice in the last four SEC Tournaments.
But Summitt doesn’t see that as an option this year.
“I’m pleased with how we’ve responded since our SEC loss,” Summitt said. “We’ve come together and gotten better in our half-court game, which we needed to do defensively and offensively.
“I think we have a little more motivation after not winning the regular season.”
