Tennessee Lady Vols squeak past George Washington, great showing of fans

I was fortunate last night to attend a matchup between the University of Tennessee and George Washington University in Washington, DC. The gym was almost full, and within the last five minutes of the game, everyone was on their feet.

Prior to the game, I had received a Facebook invite from a friend for an event titled, “Tennessee is coming…” started by some faithful GWU women’s basketball fans. The message read,

“Hey guys, The lady Vols have been spotted, along with over 1,000 fans. It’s time to remind them that this is our house! Doors open early tonight @ 6:15pm for student only!! This way we can get the best seats in the house.

So, Grab 2 friends, and get out to the Smith Center tonight!!!! Our best opponent of the year is at hand and the team needs our support!”

I was so glad to see a Facebook invite to a women’s basketball event -it already generated over 100 members from the Washington, DC area. So, of course, I decided to go (with a few friends).

Also earlier that day, the Lady Vols took a tour around DC. To the left is a picture of Briana Brass in front of the U.S. Capitol – direct from the Lady Vols’ Web site.

Later that night, I was surprised when I walked in a local bar on campus prior to the game and saw orange. Apparently, the Lady Vols have fans everywhere – and 1,000 of them were headed to GWU’s gym.

I entered the gym- which was pretty-much full, and very, very loud. According to the GWU Web site, last night’s crowd (3,459) was the sixth largest women’s basketball crowd in Charles E. Smith Center history. Pat Summit sure knows how to draw attention. (check out her post-game audio here)

The student section for GWU was in rare form, and the sea or orange behind the Tennessee bench was anything but quiet.

Tenesssee maintained about a 7-10 point lead for about the first 3/4 of the game, but with less than five minutes left to play, George Washington come within a possession of taking the lead (they were down two points).

GWU, a team not even mentioned in the top 20 ESPN/USA Today Divisoin 1 poll, came within 2 points of catching the number 9-ranked ladies in orange, one of the premier women’s basketball programs in the country.

I was impressed by two players, in particular, on GWU’s side.  Senior Jazmine Adair and senior Antelia Parrish, two towers over six feet in height, gave the Tennessee forwards some incredible resistance in the paint, on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor.

Head Coach Mike Bozeman, in his first season with GWU, was animated and heated the entire game. When GW came within a few points of taking the lead from Tennessee, Bozeman could be found in front of his bench with a towel thrown over his shoulder and his arms extended, waiving at the crowd to get on their feet.

Unfortunately, Tennessee used a 15-5 game-ending run in the last few minutes to escape with a 71-59 victory.

The game was a lot of fun, and I’m proud of the GWU players, students as well as the Tennessee fans who came out of the woodwork for this game. That’s the type of attention every game deserves.

The young Tennessee team seems to have a lot of work to do this year.