GAINESVILLE, FLA. — No. 2 Tennessee didn't get caught looking ahead to its weekend showdown with top-ranked Connecticut.
Senior Michelle Snow and junior Kara Lawson each scored 12 points as Tennessee stayed focused and beat No. 15 Florida, 88-64, Thursday night to set up a showdown of undefeated teams.
Georgia's Mary Bech Lycett passes over Louisiana State's Temeka Johnson. Eighth-ranked Georgia defeated No. 23 LSU, 72-56, Thursday night in Athens, Ga.
"That speaks well to our leadership," coach Pat Summitt said. "The question I've been asked all week was would we look past Florida? Our basketball team has done an excellent job of taking it one game at a time. That's a good sign."
The Volunteers (11-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) are off to their best start since the perfect 1997-98 season, when they went 39-0.
Tennessee plays host to the Huskies (15-0) on Saturday. Connecticut holds a 7-6 lead in the series, and has won four of the five games when the teams are ranked 1-2.
Latoya Davis also had 12 points for the Volunteers, who have won 23 straight road games, including 15 in the conference. The win over Florida ended a string of eight straight games away from Knoxville.
Florida (10-4, 0-1) was led by Vanessa Hayden's 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Brandi McCain scored 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting, and Monique Cardena also had 12 points.
Florida made its first two shots for a 4-3 lead, then missed 23 of its next 29 and shot 25.8 percent in the first half. Making matters worse, the Gators were outrebounded 54-34 for the game.
"We were just taking bad shots, rushing shots," said McCain, who had seven assists. "Also, we didn't get second shots. One shot, and it was over."
Typical of Florida's problems, Hayden the SEC's player of the week missed six of her first eight shots and sat down with 9:34 left in the first half after picking up her third foul.
"It's very difficult for us to play the way we're used to playing when our inside presence is hampered with foul trouble," Florida coach Carol Ross said. "It's not like I can reach back and send in another Vanessa."
Snow was responsible for Hayden's misery on both ends of the court, which is exactly how Summitt and her staff drew up the game plan. Snow went right at Hayden from the start, and had eight points and eight rebounds in the first half.
"I thought we could go after her and challenge her," Summitt said. "I thought Michelle did a nice job of having a lot of poise inside and setting up a variety of attacks."
After Hayden left, Tennessee went on an 18-3 run over the next six minutes to take a 36-12 lead. Lawson had seven points in the run.
With Tennessee's starters on the bench, Florida closed the first half on an 8-2 run to make it 38-20.
But the Lady Volunteers put the game away by outscoring Florida 16-7 over the opening four minutes of the second half. Snow had two short jumpers, and Lawson made a three-pointer as Tennessee took a 27-point lead with 15:57 remaining.
After that, the Gators couldn't get closer than 18 points.
Tennessee has won 29 of 30 games against the Gators, losing only in January 1997.
No. 14 South Carolina 71, No. 6 Vanderbilt 52
Columbia, S.C. Jocelyn Penn scored 17 points to lead No. 14 South Carolina over No. 6 Vanderbilt, continuing the Gamecocks' best start ever.
South Carolina (13-1) used a 18-2 run during the middle of the first half to pull away from the Commodores (12-3) and go on to a 37-21 halftime lead.
Penn had half of her 12 first-half points in the run.
Zuzana Klimensova had 17 points for the Commodores, who didn't get closer than 11 points in the second half.
Shaunzinski Gortman had 15 points and Kelly Morrone added 11 for South Carolina. The Gamecocks' largest lead of the game was 69-46 on a 3-pointer by Morrone with 2:21 left.
Chantelle Anderson, the Commodores' leading scorer at 20.9 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half. Her first point didn't come until a free throw early in the second half, then she picked up her fourth foul with 12:54 left in the game. She finished with three points.
The Gamecocks' aggressive defense got eight steals and forced the Commodores into 10 turnovers in the first half. Christina Ciocan hit a three-pointer with 5:42 left to put the Gamecocks up 30-10 in the first half.
No. 8 Georgia 72, No. 23 LSU 56
Athens, Ga. Kara Braxton scored 16 points, all in the first half, and No. 8 Georgia coasted to a 72-56 victory over No. 23 LSU.
The Bulldogs (11-0) scored the game's first 14 points with Mary Beth Lycett connecting on two three-pointers. LSU (7-5) was held scoreless until Aiysha Smith scored on a putback nearly four minutes into the game. LSU was 6-for-36 from the field (17 percent) in the first half.
Georgia led 47-24 at halftime on 20-for-30 shooting, led by Braxton's 7-for-8, and stretched its lead to 51-26 on Ebony Felder's jumper with 16:16 to play. LSU went on a 10-2 run to close within 56-41 after Ke-Ke Tardy's backdoor layup with 9:36 left, but the Lady Tigers never got any closer. A 3-pointer by Lycett and a putback by Felder made it 66-46 with 5:51 to go.
No. 10 Purdue 77, Northwestern 65
Evanston, Ill. Mary Jo Noon scored 20 points and Laura Meadows added 18 as Purdue opened defense of its Big Ten title with a victory over Northwestern.
Shereka Wright had 17 points and Kelly Komara added 15 for the Boilermakers (11-2), who had 14 fast break points as they took a 36-27 halftime lead.
The last time the teams met, in January 2001, Purdue thrashed Northwestern 94-37.
Freshman Sarah Kwasinski had 18 points for the Wildcats (4-10), while classmate Melissa Culver added 14.
Purdue is off to its best start since the 1998-99 season, when it went 11-1.
No. 12 Wisconsin 74, Indiana 54
Madison, Wis. Jessie Stomski scored 21 points and No. 12 Wisconsin set a school record with its 11th straight victory.
Tamara Moore added 19 points for Wisconsin (12-1, 3-0 Big Ten), which held Indiana without a field goal for more than 10 minutes during a stretch that covered the end of the first half and the start of the second.
Jill Chapman and Tara Jones scored 13 points apiece for Indiana (8-6, 2-1), which missed 12 straight shots at one point and shot just 35 percent (23-of-65) for the game. Chapman also had 14 rebounds.
Indiana led 21-20 with 6:43 left in the first half, but didn't score again for the next 10:03. Wisconsin used an 18-1 run during that span to take a 38-22 lead and control of the game.
No. 13 Louisiana Tech 106, Boise State 58
Ruston, La. Cheryl Ford and Erica Smith each scored 18 points and No. 13 Louisiana Tech beat Boise State for its sixth straight victory.
Louisiana Tech (8-3, 3-0 Western Athletic Conference) also got 39 points from its reserves in winning its 55th consecutive conference home game.
Substitute Kenya Bibbs added 16 points for Louisiana Tech, while Amber Obaze had 15 and reserve Catrina Frierson added 11 points and 10 rebounds. Louisiana Tech finished with a 59-21 rebounding advantage.
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