NCAA WOMEN’S MIDEAST REGIONAL : Tennessee, Texas Tech Have a Summitt Meeting

Wearing an imploring look on her face and often tossing the palms of her hands toward the ceiling of the Thompson-Boling Arena, Pat Summitt urged the Tennessee women’s basketball team to an 87-65 victory over Western Kentucky on Thursday in the semifinals of the NCAA Mideast Regional.

“Right now is why I still stay in coaching,” said Summitt, who is the NCAA’s second-winningest active coach with 562 victories in 21 years as Tennessee coach. “When you feel this way, you want to hold on to it.”

Tennessee (32-2), the region’s top-seeded team, will play second-seeded Texas Tech (33-3) in the regional final Saturday.

The Vols struggled in the first half, giving up a 10-point lead to allow the Toppers (28-4) to tie the score, 30-30, with 1:44 remaining.

But Tennessee went on a 12-0 run over the final 1:02 of the first half and the opening 1:16 of the second half. The run was capped by a layin by Dana Johnson, during which Dawn Warner was called for an intentional foul. Johnson made both free throws for a four-point play and a 42-30 Tennessee lead.

The Vols went on a roll after that, leading by as many as 28 points before a crowd of 10,629. Johnson, a powerful, 6-foot-2 senior center, was key to the Vols’ dominance in the second half, when she scored 18 of her game-high 25 points and grabbed six of her seven rebounds.

Tennessee increased its home-court winning streak to 63 games and is 25-0 in NCAA tournament games at Knoxville.

Texas Tech 67, Washington 52--Texas Tech, the 1993 NCAA champion, successfully broke Washington’s pressure defense to advance to the Mideast final.

Texas Tech took a 31-22 halftime lead after Washington’s top player, Rhonda Smith, got in early foul trouble and played just under six minutes during the first half, scoring no points. Smith finished with six points and Michelle Perkins scored 11 for Washington (25-9).

Smith’s performance was much different from the last time these teams met in November, when she scored 38 points in a 79-74 Washington victory.

“We decided we weren’t going to let her touch the ball very much,” Texas Tech Coach Nikki Heath said. “It worked pretty well, I’d say.”

Texas Tech was led by Tabitha Truesdale, who scored 18 points, and Melinda White, who scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.