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Lady Vols eliminate Penn State women, 86-58

3 min read

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – One more home victory, and Tennessee will have to pack its bags for the first time in this NCAA tournament. Gwen Jackson had 24 points and 14 rebounds as the Lady Vols jumped to a big early lead and defeated Penn State 86-58 Saturday in the Mideast Regional semifinal.

Top-seeded Tennessee (31-4) advanced to their 18th regional final in 22 tries and will host No. 2-seeded Villanova on Monday. The Wildcats beat Colorado 53-51.

Tennessee, trying to reach the Final Four for the 14th time, improved its record in NCAA tournament home games to 43-0. The Lady Vols hosted the first- and second-round games before getting the regional semifinal and championship in Knoxville.

The fourth-seeded Lady Lions (26-9), who won their early-round games by an average of 20.5 points, were overwhelmed by Tennessee’s strong defense and dominant rebounding, which led to many easy transition baskets. The Lady Vols had a 53-21 rebounding advantage.

Tennessee coach Pat Summitt was upset after the team’s win over Virginia in the second round because the Cavaliers outrebounded her team 42-41.

“I think our team was very mindful Virginia outrebounded them by one,” Summitt said. “It’s all about their mind-set.”

Tennessee had a 14-point lead at halftime and stretched it to 59-41 in the first four minutes of the second half.

The Lady Vols’ victory sets up an interesting coaching matchup. Tennessee’s Pat Summitt and Villanova’s Harry Perretta became close friends over the summer after he visited Knoxville to give Summitt some tips on the motion offense.

“This is the game that Geno has been praying for,” Penn State coach Rene Portland said, referring to Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. UConn had its record 70-game winning streak snapped by Villanova in the Big East tournament championship.

Summitt hosted a cookout at her house Friday for Villanova and Perretta, and her team and had plans to join the Wildcats again Saturday night.

“I may tell him I’m sick and have to watch tape,” Summitt said.

Kara Lawson hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Jackson followed with another to get Tennessee going. Lawson finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Penn State’s leading scorer, Kelly Mazzante, was held to just three points in the first half, but she answered each of Tennessee’s 3s. That got the Lady Lions’ offense rolling, and they cut the lead to 10 points with 13:49 remaining after Jess Strom stole the ball from Lawson and converted the layup.

But Tennessee responded with a 17-2 run to push the lead to 25, and the Lady Vols ran down the clock from there.

“The rebounding killed us. Even when we made a run, we’d miss a chippie and when we did get a stop, they made a lot of other shots on the second and third attempts,” Mazzante said. “We kept talking about it and emphasizing it, but nobody did it.”

Strom led Penn State with 18 points, while Mazzante had 12.

Mazzante was averaging 24.3 points a game and had scored 27 in each of the first two NCAA games. But she was 0-for-6 from the field before hitting a 3-pointer well beyond the arc with 33 seconds left in the first half.

Lawson got the assignment of guarding Mazzante.

“When you guard a player like Kelly, you have to be able to run around a lot,” Lawson said. “You just make her work for everything.”

The Lady Vols made their first six shots from the floor and used an 11-2 run to stretch a four-point lead to 27-14 with 11:43 remaining before halftime. Shyra Ely made three straight baskets, and Tasha Butts capped the run with a 3-pointer.

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