No. 8 Lady Vols rally past No. 17 Vandy

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Posted 5:46AM on Monday, January 17, 2005

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Tennessee coach Pat Summitt doesn't have to worry about depth if she keeps bringing Shanna Zolman and freshman Alexis Hornbuckle off the bench. Zolman scored 20 points and Hornbuckle added 16, all in the second half, in helping the eighth-ranked Lady Vols rally from a 15-point deficit and beat No. 17 Vanderbilt 79-65 on Sunday for their fourth straight victory. Tennessee (12-3, 2-0) has won 36 straight Southeastern Conference regular season games since its last league loss. The streak started after a rare loss at Vanderbilt on Feb. 2, 2002, but the Lady Vols now have won the last seven in this series and 21 of the last 23. They might not have won if not for Summitt being able to go deep into her bench, playing 10 Lady Vols and eight with at least 15 minutes. With Zolman and Hornbuckle leading the way, Tennessee's bench outscored Vandy's 41-4. ``I thought our depth would be key,'' Summitt said. ``If our players play well, I want to keep a team's rhythm and let them play. I felt like we could compete with their bench, and we might be able to wear them down by rotating.'' Brittany Jackson and Tye-sha Fluker had 14 apiece for Tennessee, which shot 48.3 percent (28-of-58) against the nation's third-best defense. Vanderbilt had been holding opponents to 36.3 percent shooting. ``They are all big compared to us, and they all cause problems for their matchups,'' said Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb, now 0-5 against Tennessee since taking over the Commodores. ``We got beat on the boards, and that's always a key against Tennessee. We just didn't get it done.'' Her squad couldn't have started any better as the Commodores (13-3, 2-1) hit their first 15 shots, including four free throws, in building a 15-point lead. But Summitt switched to a zone defense and used Tennessee's height advantage to wear down Vanderbilt. Katy Antony fouled out, and Carla Thomas and Ashley Earley played much of the second half with three fouls. ``I guess their game plan was to be physical with us and push us around,'' Earley said. With the Commodores playing less aggressively, Tennessee outrebounded them 37-24. The Lady Vols closed the first half with a 21-6 run that tied the score at 37 on Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood's 3-pointer at the buzzer. The teams swapped the lead five times with eight ties in the second half, the last at 59 before Tennessee took control with a 13-0 run started by freshman Alexis Hornbuckle's layup. ``We started playing their kind of ball one pass and a shot,'' Vanderbilt senior guard Abi Ramsey said. Zolman capped the spurt with a 3-pointer and a 72-59 lead. Earley finally scored Vandy's first bucket in nearly five minutes with 3:46 to go, and Dee Davis added a bucket to pull the Commodores to 72-63. Zolman hit another 3 with 2:29 left, and the Lady Vols pushed their lead to as much as 14 down the stretch. Thomas led Vanderbilt with 18 points. Davis had 14, and Earley finished with 12.