The University of Tennessee Lady Vols have graciously invited the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team to their home opener for the Southeastern Conference portion of the 2009-2010 schedule. Unfortunately, attendance is mandatory.

Last year's results had many people predicting the beginning of the end of the Lady Vols program. While their won-loss record was really not too shabby, being ousted in the first round of the NCAA Tournament was certainly a wake-up call for the team. (Head coach Pat Summitt did not need a wake-up call, she had been complaining about her team's performance--not results--for most of the season.) Personally, I think the rumors of UT's demise are a bit premature.

The Lady Vols still have a fairly short bench and a fairly young team, with no seniors on the roster. There are 13 players listed (and present in the team photo) but sophomore forward Amber Gray is red-shirting, while she recovers from brain and shoulder surgery, and junior forward Vicki Baugh has been fighting injuries her entire career and has not played a minute, this season. So, practically speaking, this is probably an 11-member team.

All of the 11 have played, though freshman center Faith Dupree has seen action in only 2 games. Junior guard Sydney Smallbone and sophomore guard Brianna Bass, thus far, are not seeing the kind of court time that they have in the past and freshman guard Kamiko Williams is playing about 12 minutes per game. The Lady Vols are mainly relying on junior guard/forward Angie Bjorklund to lead the scoring at 15.3 points per game, followed closely by sophomore forward Glory Johnson (13.3 ppg) and sophomore guard/forward Shekinna Stricklen with 13.2 points per game--as well as 6.4 rebounds and 15 steals and 42 assists for the season, so far. Johnson leads the team in rebounding with 8.2 per game and redshirt sophomore center Kelley Cain averages 7.4 rebounds per game, while also leading the team in blocked shots with 29. Freshman guard Taber Spani has started 11 of 12 games, averaging a very respectable 7.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

It's not just about the numbers, though those are pretty good, as is the won-loss record of 12-1. Thus far this season, the Lady Vols appear to be more on target with Summitt's expectations, having lost only to the #2 ranked Stanford Cardinal in California. They are averaging 23 points more than their opponents, shooting 46% and holding opponents to 32%, getting almost 9 more rebounds per game than opponents and 6 more assists. Pretty solid play.

The Gamecocks will counter with junior guard Valerie Nainima, who leads the team in scoring; freshman center Kelsey Bone, still averaging a double-double at this point in the season; sophomore guard LaKeisha Sutton, junior forward Jewel May, sophomore forward Charenee Stephens, junior point guard Samone Kennedy and a very young bench. Among the leading contributors are sophomore guard Ebony Wilson, freshman guard Ieasia Walker, freshman forward Ashley Bruner and junior guard Cocoa Falohun. LSU exposed a couple of weaknesses of the Gamecocks' in the season opener, shutting down Nainima for much of the first half of the game. While several Gamecocks are legitimate scoring threats, it took them quite a while to adjust and start looking for the shots to come from somewhere else. Nainima eventually was able to shake the defense enough to lead the team in scoring, but well below her scoring average. Rebounding was not a huge problem against LSU--the Gamecocks won that battle--but there were lapses in concentration, failures to box out that led to easy rebounds for the Tigers and kept the Gamecocks from making a more serious run at the lead, late in the game.

 

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm at Thompson-Boling Arena.