TOP 25 WOMEN

Simmons leads Lady Vols’ rout

— Tennessee guard Meighan Simmons knew as soon as she got out of bed that this could be her kind of day.

“I woke up this morning in a different mindset,” Simmons said Sunday after scoring a career-high 33 points in the 16th-ranked Lady Vols’ 102-57 victory over No. 22 North Carolina. “I wanted to go out and play my hardest because I knew what was coming up.”

What was coming up was a visit from an unbeaten team to begin the toughest stretch of Tennessee’s schedule. Even though Tennessee (6-1) was the higher-ranked team, Simmons believed many people didn’t expect the Lady Vols to win.

She wasted no time proving those skeptics wrong.

Simmons reached the 1,000-point mark for her career as the Lady Vols earned their sixth straight victory and handed North Carolina its first loss of the season. The 5-foot-9 junior became the first Lady Vol to score at least 30 points in a game since Candace Parker had 34 points in a 74-64 victory over Notre Dame in the 2008 NCAA tournament.

“There was an expectation that North Carolina was going to beat us,” Simmons said. “I kind of took that to heart and did what I could for the team, did what I could to help my teammates.”

North Carolina (7-1) headed into the day allowing only 54.3 points per game hadn’t given up more than 64 points in any of its seven wins, but the Tar Heels couldn’t stop Tennessee. This game marked the first time Tennessee had reached the 100-point mark against a ranked opponent since a 102-68 rout of No. 15 DePaul on Jan. 2, 2008.

North Carolina owned a height advantage over Tennessee with 6-6 center Waltiea Rolle and was averaging a plus-9 rebound margin for the season, but the Lady Vols out rebounded the Heels 54-40. The Heels committed 30 turnovers. Tennessee shot 37-of-77 from the floor and 6-of-14 from 3-point range, while North Carolina was 21-of-61 overall and 1-of-11 from beyond the arc.

“We’ll learn from this one and move on,” North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said.

NO. 8 GEORGIA 60, GEORGIA TECH 50

ATLANTA - Jasmine Hassell scored 22 points and No. 8 Georgia held Georgia Tech to 30 percent shooting in a victory over their in-state rival.

Georgia Tech (3-4) cut an 18-point deficit to six points with less than two minutes left, but Hassell hit a layup and Khaalidah Miller went 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final minute for the Bulldogs (9-0).

Hassell, a 6-foot-2 senior, made 10 of 13 shots from the floor and had seven rebounds. Miller scored 11 points and Shacobia Barbee had eight rebounds.

Aaliyah Whiteside hit a trio of three pointers to spark Georgia Tech’s late comeback and scored all of her 14 points in the second half. Tyaunna Marshall had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.

NO. 9 KENTUCKY 48, NO. 6 LOUISVILLE 47

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Janee Thompson scored 13 points, including a three pointer with 8.4 seconds left, to lift No. 9 Kentucky to a comeback victory over No. 6 Louisville.

The freshman guard finished with 13 points and scored the final six for the Wildcats (6-1), who trailed by 14 points in the second half before rallying down the stretch behind tough defense that held Louisville without a field goal for the final 4:54.

After Thompson’s three-pointer, Louisville (8-1) had one final chance, but Bria Smith’s lay-up was blocked by Azia Bishop just before the buzzer.

Shoni Schimmel finished with 13 points to lead the Cardinals, who led 35-21 with 15:08 left before wilting in the final minutes from Kentucky’s defensive pressure.

DeNesha Stallworth scored 14 points for Kentucky.

Sports, Pages 15 on 12/03/2012

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