After the close of last Tuesday’s final exhibition for the Lady Vols, the team headed back to practice to search for two things – more aggressive defense and better rebounding.
In Sunday’s 83-52 victory over UT-Chattanooga, the renewed emphasis on fundamentals paid off.
“In the last exhibition game, we were outrebounded,” junior forward Shyra Ely said. “I looked up at one point during the first half today and we were ahead in rebounding, 11 to 10. That isn’t good enough.
“Our goal is to always outrebound our opponent by at least 10, no matter who it is.”
The third-ranked Lady Vols eventually reached that goal, beating the Lady Mocs on the boards, 47-32.
Part of Tennessee’s help on the boards came from coach Pat Summitt’s decision to send junior point guard Loree Moore to the rebounding glass.
“With Loree and Shanna (Zolman) in the game at the same time, we have a different look than we are used to,” Summitt said. “I decided to have Loree move in towards the glass, while Shanna stays back. I want our guards to have more of a rebounding presence.”
Moore, who was playing in her first action this season after being suspended for the two exhibitions after missing a class, picked up on the system quickly with five offensive rebounds.
Moore also helped stabilize the offense, something that her teammates were excited about even in the pregame.
“Before the game, we were really excited because we knew that Loree was going to be able to play with us today,” Zolman said. “She just makes a tremendous difference out there on the court and really makes us a better team.”
Tennessee ran away with the lead early and never looked back, shooting nearly 52 percent from the field in the first half and building a 42-20 halftime lead.
The second half was more of the same. Midway through, the Lady Vols led 66-33 and UTC, which has won four straight Southern Conference championships, never came within 27 points after that. Tennessee used a stifling defense to hold the Lady Mocs to just 29 percent shooting (14-of-48 shooting).
As is custom, though, Summitt said she noticed some things from her team that could still be worked on, primarily the shooting woes of the bench players.
“We have the privilege of having a week off in between games to work the kinks out,” Summitt said. “We have a number of players who did a really nice job for us today, but we also have a few who need to realize what they have to do to earn playing time.”
Summitt did praise the efforts of freshman forward Sidney Spencer, who contributed eight points and five rebounds in just 15 minutes.
“I really thought that Sidney had a really solid game for us today,” Summitt said. “She had a good all-around game. She worked hard defensively, really hit the rebounding glass and was solid for us offensively.”
Ely, who scored 20 points and had nine rebounds in 28 minutes, said the contest against the Lady Mocs was a good test for a Tennessee team that will face eight ranked opponents in its next nine games, including Sunday’s 3 p.m. home contest with No. 17 Notre Dame.
“For me in particular, I don’t really like physical play,” Ely said. “They weren’t really all that big, but they really worked hard in the post and were aggressive. We had to fight to get every rebound.
“I think we’ll learn from this game and take that into our next game and the rest of the season.”
