PHILADELPHIA — Last season, Tennessee’s victory in the Sweet 16 was a nailbiter.
This time around, in a 75-59 victory over fourth-seeded Texas Tech Sunday afternoon, the Lady Vols ensured that the game was anything but. Production from the post and effective defense on the perimeter put Tennessee firmly ahead early.
“We weren’t very efficient today from our guards,” UT coach Pat Summitt said. “But our defense there was very effective and our post play stepped up.”
Tennessee (29-4), which leaned heavily on junior guard Shanna Zolman in the opening round, had to adjust to a Texas Tech defense that keyed in on her. In the absence of a perimeter shooter, UT turned to the inside.
Despite being limited to only 18 minutes by foul trouble, freshman forward Nicky Anosike finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. She hit all seven of her free throws after hitting less than 40 percent from the line to open the season.
But effective post play against Texas Tech was all about sending the ball inside to senior forward Shyra Ely. Ely is determined to take her team to the RCA Dome, the site of the Final Four, which is a five-minute drive from her Indianapolis home.
“I’m going to do everything possible to get this team to the Final Four in Indianapolis,” Ely said. “My shoe says ‘Homeward Bound’ because I plan on being home next week playing for a national championship.”
For Ely against the Lady Raiders, everything possible meant putting up big numbers. On 8-of-11 shooting, she knocked down 23 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
“When Shyra puts up that type of numbers, we are going to be an incredibly efficient team,” Summitt said. “I thought Shyra stepped up and played like an All-American.”
The performance was just a matter of necessity, Ely said.
“It’s tournament time,” Ely said. “It’s March, and you really have to take it up to another level. Either you go hard or you go home. Because of that, we just have a higher sense of urgency to get out there and do what we have to do.”
A key in stifling Texas Tech came in taking the Lady Raiders out of sync early. The Lady Vols accomplished that, not allowing a Texas Tech field goal until in the first 5 minutes, 32 seconds.
By then, the Lady Vols had piled up a nine-point lead.
“We knew we had to bring our ‘A’ game to win today, and we didn’t do that,” Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp said. “The first five minutes were very disappointing. We didn’t get off to a good start and we couldn’t ever recover from that. That’s a failure on each of our parts.”
A major piece of the Lady Vols’ game plan was to put ample pressure on Texas Tech junior point guard Erin Grant. Grant came into the game as one of the nation’s most efficient guards, averaging 3.55 assists per turnover.
Tennessee used a multitude of defenders against Grant to try and force her out of kilter. Senior guard Loree Moore, freshman guard Alexis Hornbuckle and Anosike each spent time in defense of Grant. Their defense forced Grant into six rare turnovers.
“Moore and Hornbuckle are big and physical, and they put a lot of pressure on her (Grant),” Sharp said. “They make you do some things with the basketball that you don’t want to do more so than any other team in the country.”
By the time Texas Tech recovered from its opening stumble, Tennessee was too far ahead.
“We didn’t start the game off the way we wanted,” Grant said. “So we got down and then had to just keep fighting.”
Tennessee moves on to face Rutgers in Tuesday night’s regional final. The Lady Vols look to keep with the mantra of the postseason and “survive and advance.”
“We are on a mission,” Ely said. “We want to finish what we’ve started.”
