Ariz., Tenn. Women Tip Off Outside

PHOENIX (AP) â€” Tennessee coach Pat Summitt has taken her women's basketball teams into just about every setting imaginable. <br><br>The Lady Vols have played in front of hostile crowds, friendly

Wednesday, December 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PHOENIX (AP) â€” Tennessee coach Pat Summitt has taken her women's basketball teams into just about every setting imaginable.

The Lady Vols have played in front of hostile crowds, friendly crowds and neutral crowds. They've played on the East Coast, West Coast and in practically every state in between. They played in a European gym so tiny it didn't have a dressing room or even a chalkboard.

But never in a baseball park â€” until now.

No. 2-ranked Tennessee will play Arizona State on Wednesday night at Bank One Ballpark, home of baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks and known locally as the BOB.

``Certainly, it presents a very different setting for us,'' Summitt said. ``It definitely will be an adjustment and a challenge. I think our team has been in quite a few settings. On our trip to Europe, we faced a lot of adversity with the travel and unique arenas.

``But I'd have to say there has been nothing that would resemble Bank One Ballpark.''

Unless it rains, the stadium's movable roof will be left open, creating what is believed to be the first college basketball game ever played outdoors. In a way, it will be like going back to the playground, where players often had to allow for the wind when they shot.

``It's pretty enclosed, so I don't think we'll have to worry about the wind,'' said Charli Turner Thorne, Arizona State's gung-ho coach. ``The depth perception, now that's another thing.

``You've got this little bitty basketball court on this big baseball field. I think everybody is going to be working for shots in the paint.''

The game will culminate three years of work by Turner Thorne, her staff and others in the Arizona State community. She remembers the reaction when the idea was first suggested.

``Nobody liked it except me,'' Turner Thorne said, laughing at the memory. ``But I needed some sort of hook. I'm not going to get Tennessee out here without doing something different.''

That's just what intrigued Summitt. After all, her program certainly doesn't need the publicity. Summitt is one of the game's most successful and recognized coaches and has guided the Lady Vols to six national championships.

``We're always looking for opportunities that are unique and special for our student-athletes and our program, and we certainly felt this would be,'' Summitt said.

About 15,000 tickets have been sold, ensuring that Arizona State will break its own attendance record of 5,271 and the Pac-10 record of 9,783. Arizona State officials are hoping for the largest women's basketball crowd west of the Mississippi River, a mark New Mexico now holds at 18,018.

The record for a women's game is 24,597 at Tennessee, against Connecticut in 1998.

For baseball, the park holds around 46,000 fans. It never before has played host to basketball since it opened in 1998, but has staged religious rallies, monster-truck contests, women's soccer and â€” on Thursday â€” will be the site of its first football game, the Insight.com Bowl.

The court will sit along the first-base line, and curtains will be hung on two sides to help make the shooting background a little friendlier. Nighttime temperatures at this time of year are in the 40s, so space heaters will be used to warm the players.

``The shots probably will be more affected by the Christmas layoff than depth perception, if the truth be told,'' Turner Thorne said. ``One little anxiety on the back of my mind is that none of us usually plays our best basketball right after Christmas.''

Not to mention trying to do it against a team as talented as Tennessee (10-0).

``I love a challenge,'' said Turner Thorne, whose team is 7-3. ``We are trying to get this program on the fast track. Hey, we want to be where Tennessee's at, and the only way to get there is to find out where we're at, to keep pushing to create opportunities for ourselves.''

With this game, she certainly has done that.