Georgia’s Got Tennessee, Title on Its Mind

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  Surely, it is Georgia’s time, at long last, in this Southeastern Conference/NCAA women’s championship game tonight.

Surely Georgia (28-4) is the country’s best women’s program never to have won a national title, and surely this is the team to put Coach Andy Landers on top after 17 seasons, this band of fast, hard-driving athletes who detonated Stanford on Friday.

Yet just as surely, who in their right mind could go against Tennessee (31-4) after its last two games in the tournament?

Pat Summitt’s team won an overtime semifinal against Connecticut on Friday, a week after overcoming a 17-point deficit against Virginia on the Cavaliers’ home court for the East regional title.

Then there’s this: When last these two met, Jan. 8 in Athens, Ga., Georgia won, 77-71.

At news conferences Saturday, there was more bragging about SEC women’s basketball, a subject UConn Coach Geno Auriemma said he is tired of hearing about.

“If I was in another conference, I’d be tired of hearing it too,” Landers said, “but it’s justifiable. It is the best conference in the country.”

Georgia’s Saudia Roundtree, the tournament’s best and fastest player, and Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw, the nation’s best freshman, described the energy level anticipated today at the Charlotte Coliseum.

“My heart is racing,” Roundtree said. “We’re playing for the national championship. But I don’t want to think about it in the game, I just want to go out and play.”

Holdsclaw, the 6-foot-2 New York City (Queens) product, was called recently by Louisiana Tech Coach Leon Barmore “probably the best freshman in the history of the women’s game.”

She had an ordinary night against UConn Friday, 13 points and six rebounds, yet Landers says it’s like playing two players.

“Her value is doubled because she can play inside or outside,” he said.

Yet both Holdsclaw and Roundtree were at least briefly in the doghouse during their semifinal victories.

Summitt removed Holdsclaw for less than a minute early in the first half, scolded her a bit, then sent her back in.

“I took her out early because I wasn’t happy with her defense,” she said.

“She was giving us good defense in spurts. I told her after the game she’s got to come in here Sunday with a very high energy level.”

Roundtree’s job against Stanford was to prevent Cardinal racehorse Kate Starbird from passing to the wings on breaks. Landers said the two of them had a halftime chat.

“I told her: ‘You’re not getting it done. Either you’ll get it done or you won’t,’ ” Landers said.

“And I knew when she didn’t answer me she’d get it done and she did.”

He said his team is a mature one, not given to showy pregame displays.

“Anyone who’d been in our locker room before that Stanford game would have felt we were about to be blown out,” Landers said. “No cheering, no high-fives. . . . They will come here Sunday quietly, comfortable, confident and ready to play.”

And presumably better shooters. Georgia, a 73% free-throw shooting team, missed 12 of 13 during one second-half stretch, when it frittered away a big lead against Stanford.

Roundtree, the 5-7 point guard, shot eight for 14 from the floor, nine for nine from the line and had 26 points and six rebounds.

To Summitt and her point guard, Michelle Marciniak, the top priority is to limit Roundtree to an ordinary game, say, 20 points.

“We don’t match up with her speed, I don’t know any team that does,” Summitt says.

“But we’ve got to find a way to limit her output.”

Marciniak wore a T-shirt to Saturday’s practice that said: “A goal is a dream with a headline.”

At the news conference, she talked about guarding Roundtree:

“The neat thing about playing against Saudia is she raises the level of your game too, when you’re guarding her. But we have to remember Saudia Roundtree isn’t going to win the national championship by herself--we have to guard her teammates too.”

Landers: “Saudia thrives in tough situations and she helps us win in several areas--creativity, defense and offense. Defensively, I thought she was spectacular on Starbird in the second half.”

*

TODAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

* Tennessee (31-4) vs. Georgia (28-4)

ESPN, 3:30 p.m.