Cardinal turned away in Tennessee, 51-59

Stanford has won only one regular-season game at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, four years ago. After the first quarter of this game, they probably thought they had a chance at a second victory.

A men's game went overtime, so ESPN joined the game in progress when, with four minutes to play in the first quarter, Stanford was up 15-4 and Tennessee had turned the ball over seven times. At the end of the first quarter, Stanford led 17-11 and seemed to have control of the game. The 9,147 fans were very quiet.

Then the Lady Vols seemed to remember they were playing at home. They clamped down their defense and suddenly the Cardinal's shots, when they were taken at all, were clanking off the rim. The game was tied 29-29 at the half.

During the second half Stanford went long minutes without a score. Against a mostly-zone defense the three-point game is crucial, and the Cardinal shooters hit only four of twenty tries.

The Cardinal defense continued to work, so Tennessee never pulled out to a large lead, but it proved impossible to close the gap, and a fairly ugly defensive game trickled to an end.

Karlie had thirteen points from 5-13 shooting. Bird also had thirteen and Brittany had eleven; nobody else came near double digits.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Lady Vols knock off No. 10 Stanford 59-51, the Associated Press game recap by Steve Megargee
• Lady Vols beat No. 10 Stanford, 59-51, the Tennessee Athletics game recap
• Cardinal Topped at Tennessee, the Stanford Athletics game recap
• Lady Vols hustle to win over Stanford by Dan Fleser (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• Tennessee 59 Stanford 51 from the CARDboard

And the game statistics.