Staley wants to beat Lady Vols as a coach

KNOXVILLE — As a player, Dawn Staley got the better of Pat Summitt’s Lady Volunteers.

As a coach, she’s still waiting.

On March 24, 1990, Staley and Virginia stunned the Lady Vols with a 79-75 overtime victory in the NCAA East Regional final in Norfolk, Va. The win was especially sweet for Staley, who had lost to UT in the Sweet 16 the previous season, and it made Tennessee a non-participating host in the 1990 Final Four at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Since then, Summitt has had her luck against Staley-led teams. Staley lost both games against Tennessee in her eight seasons at Temple, where she led the Owls to four Atlantic 10 tournament titles and six NCAA tournament appearances.

In her first season as head coach at South Carolina, Staley looks to notch her second victory against UT today at 3 p.m. in Thompson-Boling Arena.

“Just watching Dawn over the years, I’ve thought it’s been great to have Dawn in our league,” Summitt said. “It always makes us better when we have coaches that come in and we know that they are going to get the job done. It takes time, but there is no doubt in my mind it’s going to happen — probably in a timely fashion.”

The Lady Vols (13-3, 2-1 SEC) didn’t dwell on their 74-58 loss at Vanderbilt last Sunday, beating Mississippi State 63-56 in Starkville on Thursday night. UT drained seven of 13 3-pointers against the Bulldogs.

South Carolina assistant coaches Nikki McCray and Carla McGhee are former Lady Vols players. McGhee, who played from 1986 to ’90, was a teammate of UT assistant coach Daedra Charles-Furlow on the 1989 NCAA championship team.

“I am pretty accustomed to seeing former Lady Vols on the opposing bench,” Summitt said, “and that’s something I’m pretty proud of — the number of players that decided to leave Tennessee and go into the coaching ranks.

“You always have a feeling of pride, and they’re always family. Once a Lady Vol, always a Lady Vol.”

With today’s matchup against UT, South Carolina (8-8, 0-3) will have faced three teams who played in last season’s Final Four. The Lady Gamecocks lost 77-48 to Connecticut on Dec. 28 and 78-47 to Stanford on Dec. 19.

Injury updates

UT starting post Vicki Baugh (knee) is expected to be available against South Carolina. Baugh missed four straight games after suffering a sprain of the lateral collateral ligament in her left knee on Jan. 1 in preparation for the game against Rutgers. She returned to the practice floor Friday. ... UT redshirt freshman center Kelley Cain came down hard on her surgically repaired right knee in the first half against Mississippi State and did not return. Her status for today’s game remains unclear.