TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In December, a determined DePaul team took the Lady Vols into overtime before succumbing to a taller, deeper Tennessee.
In Monday night’s second-round action in the NCAA tournament, it took Tennessee only a half to put the Blue Demons away.
Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt believes a renewed emphasis on defense was the biggest difference between the game early in the season and their postseason matchup.
“I think in the first game, we struggled as a team defensively,” Summitt said. “Tonight, we played consistently hard on defense and our board play was excellent. That was key for us.”
As a team, the Lady Vols said focusing on defense and rebounding can only help them as they attempt to delve further into the tournament.
“Pat always tells us that defense and boards win championships,” senior center Ashley Robinson said. “In this game, that was our emphasis. We knew we’d have to be tougher on the boards and on defense than we were in the first game.”
In addition to decisively winning the rebounding battle with 55 to DePaul’s 30, the Lady Vols limited the chances the Blue Demons had of penetrating to the basket. In the December contest, forward Khara Smith was able to score 23 points, mostly off shots in the post.
Monday night, Smith and her teammates were flustered by Tennessee’s defense and unable to muster any sort of offensive rhythm in the first half. Smith picked up three first-half fouls and zero points.
According to Robinson, the defense that forced DePaul into shooting 28.8 percent for the game was part of a strategic Tennessee game plan.
“We wanted to be really intense from the beginning of the game,” Robinson said. “They have left-handed guards and we wanted to limit their ability to go to their left. They like to try and take the ball inside, and we put a lot of pressure on them so they couldn’t.”
That defense was most evident in the first half, where DePaul shot a dismal 25 percent from the field. Summitt believes that her team’s first half effort was the best they’ve had all season.
“At both ends, we played 20 minutes of the most solid basketball I’ve seen from this team,” Summitt said. “It was exciting to see them do exactly what we wanted to do.”
While their defense was stifling the Blue Demons, the Lady Vol offense was also hitting on all cylinders. Sophomore guard Shanna Zolman hit 7-of-10 first-half field goals, including 4-of-5 3-point shots for 18 first-half points. Her point total nearly matched DePaul’s 24 at the half.
“It was one of those nights where it seemed like I was throwing into the ocean,” Zolman said of her hot hand.
Zolman wasn’t the only Lady Vol whose offense was clicking. Six Tennessee players scored in double figures, including 10 points from freshman Sidney Spencer and 11 points from junior Brittany Jackson off the bench.
DePaul coach Doug Bruno said his team simply had no answer to the different problems Tennessee was able to present in round two.
“I don’t think we competed from the get-go,” Bruno said. “We had no way to counteract what they were doing.
“If you’ve played them before, you know that this is what Tennessee does to people.”
