Columbia, S.C. — A sold-out arena. A top-10 showdown. No matter where it was held, this was Tennessee's kind of game.
"If they had 900 people here tonight, I would've worried," said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, whose second-ranked Vols won their 26th straight over No. 8 South Carolina, 80-61 on Thursday night. "The fact that they had a sellout crowd, I thought our players would be ready to play. I think we enjoy that, we're accustomed to that at home. And also, obviously, we're accustomed to that on the road."
South Carolina nearly doubled its all-time attendance record of 6,219 set in 1981 against UCLA with 12,168 people all paying $1 to get in.
But Kara Lawson scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half as the Vols (15-1, 4-0 SEC) rolled to their 28th consecutive league win.
The Gamecocks (16-2, 4-1) came in with a 12-game winning streak, victories against Vanderbilt and Georgia and the passionate crowd. And for the first 25 minutes, the fans who filled the place got what they came for.
Teresa Geter's foul shots gave South Carolina a 45-42 lead, but then the Vols got going.
"We felt that early there was going to be a lot of emotion, a lot of intensity, a great atmosphere," Lawson said. "But we felt that if we could get in that middle stretch of the second half and break open a double-digit lead, we could take the game."
No. 4 Stanford 104, Washington St. 57
Pullman, Wash. Cori Enghusen scored 24 points as No. 4 Stanford won its ninth straight game. Freshman Azella Perryman scored 10 points and added a game-high 13 rebounds for the Cardinal (17-1, 7-0 Pac-10), who shot 61.7 percent, compared to 36.4 percent for Washington State. Brittney Hawks scored 21 points for the Cougars (2-16, 0-8), who lost their school-record 13th straight game.
No. 5 Wisconsin 74, Illinois 69
Madison, Wis. Jessie Stomski scored 24 points to lead Wisconsin to its 15th straight victory. Tamara Moore added 17 points, and Kyle Black and Emily Ashbaugh each scored 12 for Wisconsin (16-1, 7-0 Big Ten).
Moore also had seven assists to become Wisconsin's career leader with 474, breaking Keisha Anderson's mark of 471 set from 1994-97.
Iveta Marcauskaite had a career-high 27 points to lead Illinois (11-5, 4-2). Cindy Dallas added 15 and Dawn Vana 14 for the Fighting Illini.
No. 7 Vanderbilt 69, Alabama 46
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Zuzi Klimesova and Chantelle Anderson each scored 17 points to lead Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt (17-3, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) led just 30-24 at halftime, but opened the second half on a 12-4 run and shot 14-of-24 in the second half. LaNisha Cartwell scored 13 points to lead Alabama (11-6, 1-3).
No. 11 Purdue 61, Indiana 53
Bloomington, Ind. Mary Jo Noon scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half, and Laura Meadows had 15 points and 16 rebounds for Purdue. Purdue (14-3, 5-2 Big Ten) struggled against one of the conference's stingiest defenses, making just 19 shots and getting only 10 points from leading scorer Shereka Wright. Indiana (8-9, 2-4) lost its fourth straight game overall, and eighth straight against the Boilermakers.
No. 16 Georgia 60, No. 19 Auburn 49
Auburn, Ala. Kara Braxton had 23 points and 11 rebounds for Georgia. Christi Thomas added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs (13-3, 2-2 Southeastern Conference), who led just 50-49 with 4:27 left before Braxton made a jump shot to start a 10-0 run. Georgia, which had lost back-to-back conference games, has won five straight over the Tigers (13-4, 1-3).
Georgia Tech 81, No. 17 North Carolina 62
Chapel Hill, N.C. Fallon Stokes scored 23 points to lead Georgia Tech to an upset victory over North Carolina. Sonja Mallory added 14 points, while Milli Martinez and Megan Isom had 12 each as Georgia Tech (10-6, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat the cold-shooting Tar Heels. Leah Metcalf scored 16 points for North Carolina (14-4, 4-2), which shot just 33 percent (27-of-81).
No. 20 Colorado St. 58, San Diego St. 49
Fort Collins, Colo. Angie Gorton scored eight of her 16 points in the second half and had 11 rebounds. Jasai Ferrucho and Lisa Narkiewicz added 12 points each for Colorado State (14-3, 3-0 Mountain West Conference). The Rams went 22-for-32 from the free-throw line to win their fourth straight game. Atim Otii had 15 points and nine rebounds for San Diego State (8-7, 0-2).
No. 23 Old Dominion 82, Hofstra 48
Norfolk, Va. Hamchetou Maiga had 15 points, eight rebounds and nine assists in just 26 minutes to lead Old Dominion past Hofstra. Sharron Francis added 14 points, Monique Coker had 11 and Lucienne Berthieu and Myriah Spence each had 10 for Old Dominion (10-5, 7-0 Colonial Athletic Association), which has won 126 of its last 127 conference games. Jennifer Brickley scored 13 points to lead Hofstra (4-11, 1-5).
No. 24 Arizona St. 70, UCLA 57
Los Angeles Cian Carvalho scored 13 points to lead Arizona State. Betsy Boardman had 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 3-of-4 3-point attempts, and Amanda Levens scored 11 as Arizona State (15-4, 6-2 Pac-10) won its fourth straight game. Carrie Buckner and Melody Johnson added 10 each. Whitney Jones scored 15 points, and Malika Leatham added 10 for the Bruins (5-11, 2-6), who shot 35 percent (21-of-60) for the game.
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