Bruins Can’t Reach Summitt Yet

There were 33 seconds left in a game with its outcome decided when UCLA’s Marie Philman found herself alone under the basket for a “freebie,” as her coach, Kathy Olivier, likes to call uncontested inside shots.

Philman went up for the shot, a two-footer . . . and missed it.

She went into a crouch and slowly covered her eyes, evoking a feeling of frustration and disbelief that was commonplace Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion, where No. 5-ranked Tennessee beat the No. 4 Bruin women for the 11th consecutive time in the 20-year-old series, 88-77.

Before 5,052, UCLA fell behind early and never did catch the Lady Vols (3-1), but did come within a point three times in the second half.

The game-long nemesis for the Bruins (2-1) was blown easy opportunities, too many missed freebies, particularly by Maylana Martin and Janae Hubbard in the first half.

UCLA shot 40.5% for the game, and many of the misses were from inside. Tennessee shot 51.6%.

Then there was the matter of Tennessee rebounding. Pat Summitt’s team had a decided edge, 45-33, against a team billed as a major rebounding team.

Olivier seemed to sum it up afterward.

“Pat Summitt takes a lot of pride in having her teams stop what you do best and that’s what they did today,” she said. “The rebounding edge they had was a huge factor.”

Almost as huge as 6-foot-1 Tennessee junior Tamika Catchings. If her Sunday performance--28 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three steals in 37 minutes--was any indication, Tennessee partisans may accept Chamique Holdsclaw’s departure sooner than they thought.

Catchings was a factor at both ends of the court, particularly down low where she outrebounded both the 6-3 Martin and 6-4 Hubbard, who combined for eight rebounds. She scored on soaring drives down the paint and baseline, made two acrobatic midcourt steals to terminate UCLA breakaways and looked generally like a candidate for player of the year.

Summitt afterward sounded as if she was talking about Holdsclaw when asked about Catchings.

“The great thing about her is that she never stops playing hard, even when her shots aren’t falling,” Summitt said.

Catchings afterward said the best is yet to come.

“We have the ability to be better than we were last year (31-3),” she said. “We have a lot of new players who bring a lot.”

Summitt said Sunday’s game might have been a preview of the Final Four next spring at Philadelphia. UCLA is favored to win the Pacific 10 Conference.

“UCLA can definitely be a Final Four team,” Summitt said.

“They have weapons inside and outside and a lot of depth,” she said.

“Their guards had five rebounds at halftime.”

Tennessee shut down UCLA’s breakaway game almost completely in the first half, the Bruins creating only a single break but Michelle Greco missed the shot.

The Lady Vols, meanwhile, had at least a dozen breaks, running up a 40-31 halftime lead.

Then UCLA got its wheels back in the second half, blending an occasional breakaway with shots by Martin, Marie Philman and Greco three times bringing the Bruins to within one, the last time at 50-49 with 13:50 left.

But Tennessee freshman Gwen Jackson and Catchings then sank consecutive three-pointers and UCLA never came closer than four points down the stretch.

UCLA freshman guard Nicole Kaczmarski got a steal and a breakaway basket with 9:11 left to close it to 58-53.

Then another Tennessee freshman, 5-9 guard Kara Lawson, came in to take command on the perimeter, scoring 13 points in the final 9:48.

“I felt awfully good, looking out there and seeing three freshmen, and us beating one of the best teams in the country on their court,” she said.