USC and Tennessee Have Some Scores to Settle

LEXINGTON, Ky. — What we have here at the women’s Final Four are four teams with revenge on the brain and four coaches trying to bury the hatchet--in someone else’s back.

We’ve got USC. The Trojans will play Tennessee tonight at 6:30 (PST) in Rupp Arena. The Trojans don’t like the Volunteers because when they played at the Sports Arena in December, they were mean to Cheryl Miller and made Cheryl angry, and she accidentally hit Karla Horton. Miller was thrown out of the game, and the visitors gleefully did a Tennessee Waltz on the sidelines.

That made the Trojans angry. They won the game, 85-77, and then did a little dance of their own.

Tennessee was impolite to USC because the Trojans remembered when they won their second national championship. That was in 1984, and the Volunteers remember, too, because if USC hadn’t beaten them, 72-61, they would be wearing the championship rings.

Then, of course, there’s Texas. Texas is the No. 1 team in the nation. Texas is undefeated at 32-0. Texas has so much depth it could be playing its bench for the national championship. But Texas had never been to the Final Four.

No need to remind Longhorn Coach Jody Conradt. No need to introduce Western Kentucky to the Texas players. They remember the Hilltoppers as the latest in a line of teams that have denied them a trip to this championship.

Western Kentucky beat Texas in last year’s Mideast Regional, 92-20, on Lillie Mason’s desperation shot at the buzzer.

The Hilltoppers aren’t angry at anyone, if you don’t count the media, which Western Kentucky Coach Paul Sanderford doesn’t. Sanderford thinks his 32-3 team has gotten no respect from the press this season. Hey, Paul, it’s not the coaches’ poll that has your team ranked No. 4.

Other than that, Sanderford should have no gripes. His team has the only thing close to a home advantage of any team here, although the fans back home will have to decide between staying home to watch the State high school girls’ tournament in Bowling Green or watching the Hilltoppers in Lexington.

USC has some excitement going here, as much for fashion as for basketball. Whereas the other teams practiced in the usual gray “Property of . . . “ workout clothes, the Trojans showed up for practice in all colors of surfer shorts. Practices were open to the public, and the Kentucky public just shook its collective head.

It’s the sort of thing basketball has come to expect from USC, and it’s what should make the game against Tennessee intriguing.

Aside from the revenge factor, there is the vivid contrast in styles. USC runs and shoots from the perimeter. Tennessee favors a deliberate halfcourt style and tries to work the ball inside.

USC Coach Linda Sharp likes to keep her players loose and allow them to create on the floor. Tennessee Coach Pat Head Summitt demands that her players be controlled and disciplined.

Summitt’s team may require more supervision, since it has only one senior.

“This is not a team of one or two superstars,” Summitt said Thursday. “With all our freshmen, everyone talked about next year for us. I’m sure you’re all surprised to see us here. I felt that in order for us to be a great team, our freshmen would have to contribute.

“If they have matured, I think our schedule has had a lot to do with it. We haven’t shied away from putting our freshmen on the court and living or dying with them.”

Tennessee might not have been living it up with its freshmen, but it’s still alive. With a 24-9 record, the Volunteers have more losses than the other three teams combined.

Freshman Sheila Frost most damaged USC when they met at the Sports Arena Dec. 15. The 6-4 center scored 24 points in 28 minutes.

“I did have a good game that last time,” Frost said. “I feel I’m getting better and better.”

Bad news for the Trojans.

Horton, though, was the bad news for Miller last time. Tennessee players said that the game at the Sports Arena was no more physical than they are used to in the Southeastern Conference. They must play their games in alleys.

“I think the fact that Cheryl got thrown out of the game for the flagrant elbow tells you it was physical,” USC’s Rhonda Windham said.

Sharp said she would be happy to run against the taller but slower Volunteers. “We look to score off our transition game,” she said.

Does Miller think she will be picked on tonight?

“Yes, probably more so,” she said.

She also said she’s had the last word on Horton, or that at least her elbow has. “It’s like Rambo,” Miller said. “She drew first blood, and I finished it.”

Texas hopes to finish Western Kentucky in the first game at 4 p.m. (PST). Both games will be televised live on ESPN.

The Longhorns will send their injury-racked team against a healthy but unspectacular Hilltopper squad.

“We aren’t the best team here, we don’t have the best athletes, we aren’t stars,” Sanderford said. “But I really think we will win.”

Conradt said: “We can’t play for revenge. We’ve got to get a good effort from everyone and hope they forget about that last-minute shot. It was so long ago.”

Cheryl Miller of USC was named Thursday to the Kodak Women’s All-American basketball team for the fourth consecutive year.

Others on the first team are Cindy Brown of Cal State Long Beach, Kamie Ethridge of Texas, Lillie Mason of Western Kentucky, Teresa Edwards of Georgia, Wanda Ford of Drake, Jennifer Gillom of Mississippi, Pam Leake of North Carolina, Katrina McClain of Georgia and Sue Wicks of Rutgers.

Miller, named the women’s Player of the Year three times, is only the third player to make the Kodak squad four times. The others are Ann Meyers of UCLA and Lynette Woodard of Kansas. Woodard is now a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.