|
 |  |
|
AD PARTNERS
|  |
Not this time Lady Vols struggle without starting guard Clement
Posted: Monday April 03, 2000 12:22 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- With its top perimeter threat sidelined by an injury, Tennessee struggled early and never recovered against Connecticut. The Lady Vols missed 12 of their first 13 shots and 19-of-21 as UConn won the NCAA championship with a 71-52 victory Sunday night. Tennessee sorely missed Kristen Clement's perimeter shooting. She sprained her right ankle during a shootaround Sunday morning and spent most of the night standing and rooting for her teammates along Tennessee's bench. "Ace is a starter, and to lose a starter on game day hurts," teammate Kara Lawson said of Clement. "We kept our focus. We thought we can win the game without her. I don't think we responded very well." In Friday's semifinal victory over Rutgers, Clement scored eight of the team's first 10 points -- including a pair of 3-pointers -- in the first six minutes. It took the Lady Vols 12 1/2 minutes to get their eighth point against the Huskies. "When you play a team as aggressive and physical as UConn, you have to have great guard play," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. "We took some quick shots. We played in a panic and didn't have our composure." Clement, a Philadelphia-area native and the team's emotional leader, started every game for Tennessee this season before Sunday night. "You would think when you're playing for a national championship, you would come out fired up," Clement said. "They outhustled us and we played young. Coach turned to me and asked what could we do. I said, `Coach, you can't teach heart.' We played scared, with no emotion. Hopefully, they'll learn from this." Tennessee's starting guards combined for 14 points on 6-of-18 shooting, including Lawson who was 3-of-13 for six points. Senior Kyra Elzy started in place of Clement and held Sue Bird to four points. But Elzy, who scored eight points, could not provide the offensive lift Tennessee needed early. "We relied heavily on Ace," Summitt said. "She's our best perimeter defender and she greatly influences the attitude and intensity of the team. Would it have changed the outcome? I don't know." The All-American tandem of Tamika Catchings and Semeka Randall also had a difficult time against a tenacious UConn defense. Catchings, the AP player of the year, did not score her first basket until 3:55 remained in the first half. By that time, the Lady Vols trailed 25-12. Catchings finished with 16 points, including 11 in the second half when the outcome had been decided. "They got all the turnovers, made all the hustle plays and converted," Catchings said. Tennessee committed 26 turnovers, a championship game record. Kelly Schumacher had nine blocks, also a tournament record. Randall, who scored six points on 1-of-11 shooting, made her first shot 6:51 into the second half. The Lady Vols trailed by 21 at that point. "Most of the time I drove the key, I got rejected," Randall said. "It was a huge factor." Tennessee shot just 5-of-27 (19 percent) in the first half and 16-of-51 overall (31 percent). The Lady Vols trailed 32-19 at halftime, UConn opened with the second half with an 8-0 run and led by double digits the rest of the way. "They were too deep," Summitt said. "They rotated a lot of
bodies on Catchings and had a lot of fouls to use on her. Our
guards were not strong enough to handle the pressure the defense
applied."
| ||||||||||||||||||||
