Tennessee Teaches USC Difficult Lesson, 106-66

The USC women’s basketball team was reduced to a statistic footnote Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee beat the Trojans, 106-66, for the Lady Vols’ 200th victory at the arena and their 25th consecutive home victory since a 74-67 loss to Connecticut in 2000.

“It’s hard when you come into their fiefdom. You have to deal with that. Our kids have never done that before,” USC Coach Chris Gobrecht said. “The stuff they count heavily on worked very well tonight. The intimidation, the whole scene. They definitely had us sitting there staring at the truck running over us.”

Freshmen Shyra Ely scored 22 points, and reserve Brittany Jackson had 14 as the Lady Vols (2-0) won their home opener.

Tennessee jumped to a 10-1 lead in the first four minutes, and USC (0-2) got as close as 20-12 with 9:07 left in the first half after Aisha Hollans, who finished with a game-high 26 points, made a three-point play. But after Hollans had one free throw to make it 33-19 with 5:55 remaining before halftime, Tennessee went on a 15-0 run.

USC’s Rachel Woodward added 16 and had seven rebounds, but Ebony Hoffman was held to two points, on two free throws. The Lady Vols evened the all-time series against USC at seven games apiece. The teams last met in 1989, when USC won, 87-53, in L.A.

No. 1 Connecticut 69, No. 3 Vanderbilt 50--Swin Cash had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Huskies to the preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament title at Storrs, Conn.

Cash scored all of her points in the first half and was selected the tournament’s most valuable player. Connecticut (4-0) also won the event in 1997. Vanderbilt (3-1) got only 10 points from 6-foot-6 Chantelle Anderson, who was held seven points below her average and had only two rebounds.

No. 4 Oklahoma 75, Tulsa 52--LaNeishea Caufield scored 24 points as the Sooners (3-0) routed Tulsa (0-2).

Toledo 71, No. 5 Duke 65--Tia Davis scored 20 points and Melantha Herron added 18 at Toledo, Ohio, to help the Rockets defeat a ranked team for the first time in school history. Toledo (1-0) outscored Duke (2-1), 15-2, in the opening six minutes of the second half to rally from a 30-23 halftime deficit.

No. 11 Purdue 89, Eastern Illinois 33--Shereka Wright scored 16 points, Kelly Komara had 14 and the Boilermakers (2-0) held the Panthers (0-2) without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes in the second half at West Lafayette, Ind.

No. 15 Notre Dame 42, Valparaiso 35--Freshman Teresa Borton had 14 points and nine rebounds in the 39th consecutive home victory for the Irish.The 42 points were the fewest in an Irish victory.

No. 16 Georgia 88, Maine 57--Tawana McDonald scored 16 points her team’s season-opening victory over Maine (1-1) at Athens, Ga.

No. 17 Michigan 67, Detroit 52--Leeann Bies scored 23 points and freshman Tabitha Pool added 15 for the Wolverines (1-1) at Detroit.

Wisconsin 87, No. 19 Washington 67--Jessie Stomski scored 22 points and had 13 rebounds ad the Badgers never trailed at Madison, Wis.