Tennessee Has the Numbers to Beat Duke

It was supposed to be Alana Beard’s day.

But it was Shanna Zolman who made her eight free throws and scored a three-point basket to give Tennessee its first lead.

It was Shyra Ely who fought inside to get fouled and make two free throws to give Tennessee the lead for good.

But most of all, it was Loree Moore, a tough-nosed guard from Narbonne High, who scored consecutive layups when the Volunteers were establishing their superiority and who came back into the game limping on a painful left knee to make a three-pointer right after she had motioned her teammates not to throw her the ball. Because her knee felt as if it was about to collapse.

In front of a sellout crowd of 9,314 in Cameron Indoor Stadium on the day Beard became the first woman player at Duke to have her basketball jersey number retired, No. 2-ranked Tennessee (16-1) played the more determined defense and the more creative offense and upset top-ranked Duke, 72-69, Saturday.

For the first time since the week of Feb. 25, 2001, the Volunteers should find themselves ranked No. 1 when the next poll is released.

“This feels so good,” Moore said. She was sitting with a bag of ice wrapped around her left knee.

When Ely made two free throws to give Tennessee a 46-45 lead with 8 minutes 42 seconds left, she was shooting them for Moore. The 5-foot-9 junior had been on a path for a fastbreak layup when Beard took Moore down hard.

“I felt my kneecap move,” Moore said. “And I felt incredible pain. But I know Alana. She wouldn’t do it on purpose.”

Moore re-entered and made a three-pointer with 4:09 left that gave the Volunteers a 60-51 lead, but she left for good seconds later.

“I had tried to motion my teammates not to throw me the ball,” Moore said, “because I felt like I couldn’t move. But I got the ball so I shot it. I knew I couldn’t play defense though. I just have to stay convinced this isn’t going to be bad.”

This was the first time Coach Pat Summitt had brought her team to Cameron. “It was a great atmosphere,” Summitt said, “but we’ve played at a lot of tough places.”

Cameron was bursting with noise when Beard had her No. 20 jersey retired. Beard, who is scheduled to graduate in May with a degree in sociology, is Duke’s career scoring leader. She was the 2002-03 college player of the year and holds Duke game records in eight categories, including points (41) and field goals made (16).

But Beard, a 5-11 senior from Shreveport, La., found two and sometimes three Volunteers tailing her. Beard finished with 18 points, the last two on a layup with 24.3 seconds left that cut the deficit to 68-66.

And Duke (15-2) nearly stole the inbounds pass, forcing a jump ball. But the possession arrow was in Tennessee’s favor and Zolman made two free throws with 13.5 seconds left.

“It was a bitter loss,” Beard said. “Any time you come out of a game with a loss, it’s always going to be bitter. It’s early in the season, but we really wanted to win. We should have won. Somehow we couldn’t quite do the things necessary to win.”

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Scramble at the Top

Saturday night’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in women’s basketball in Cameron Indoor Stadium was the 38th between the top two teams in the poll. A look at how Duke, as No. 1, and Tennessee, as No. 2, have fared in No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups:

*--* DUKE AT NO. 1 * 2004 -- Lost to No. 2 Tennessee, 72-69, at Durham, N.C. * 2003 -- Lost to No. 2 Connecticut, 77-65, at Durham, N.C. * 2002 -- Beat No. 2 Tennessee, 76-55, at Raleigh, N.C. TENNESSEE AT NO. 2 * 2002 -- Lost to No. 1 Connecticut, 86-72, at Knoxville, Tenn. * 2000 -- Lost to No. 1 Connecticut, 81-76, at Hartford, Conn. * 2000 -- Lost to No. 1 Connecticut, 71-52, at Philadelphia-x. * 2000 -- Lost to No. 1 Connecticut, 74-67, at Knoxville, Tenn. * 1999 -- Beat No. 1 Connecticut, 92-81, at Storrs, Conn. * 1993 -- Beat No. 1 Vanderbilt, 73-68, at Nashville * 1992 -- Beat No. 1 Stanford, 74-73, OT, at Honolulu * 1989 -- Beat No. 1 Auburn, 66-61, at Albany, Ga.-y

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x-NCAA final y-SEC championship