KNOXVILLE – Tennessee coach Pat Summitt hopes her deep bench equals a long run in the NCAA tournament.
All 13 Lady Volunteers played before halftime and all of them scored by the final buzzer Saturday during a 99-34 win over Stetson in the opening round of the Dayton region.
“Depth is a real factor for us,” Summitt said. “To have the depth that we have to keep people fresh, move people in and out and not have to deal with fatigue is really special. This team is very special.”
Top-seeded Tennessee (32-2) has its sights set on a return to the Final Four after two seasons of frustration in the tournament, and the 16th-seeded Hatters were little more than a warm-up act. The Lady Vols will face eighth-seeded Marquette or ninth-seeded Texas on Monday.
The Lady Vols have scored an average 23.6 points more than their opponents this season and previously had their best offensive game of the year in a 90-65 win against Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship. They hit a school-record 16 3-pointers and shot 70.4 percent in the second half in that game.