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By Jim Steele
steele@mckenziebanner.com |
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If there is anything at all to superstition and the number
22, West Tennessee sports fans will find out Sunday...Dec.
22, oddly enough.That's when Vanderbilt University's women's basketball
team will travel to Tennessee-Martin for a 3 p.m. tipoff.
The Commodores feature local standout Ashley McElhiney,
who is one of the Southeastern Conference's top point
guards.
The No. 9 Lady 'Dores are 6-1 heading to Sunday's game
with 2-5 UTM and McElhiney, who wears the number 22, has a
chance to set a record in front of her home fans.
McElhiney, who led Gleason to a 1999 state title and was
named Class A Miss Basketball that same year, is four
assists shy of setting the all-time record at Vanderbilt.
She could set that record on the 22nd of December. Another
interesting synchonicity is that McElhiney is 136 points
away from reaching the 1,000-point plateau. When she does
that, she will be, yep, the 22nd player in VU history to
have eclipsed that mark.
More on that later.
Danny and Sandra McElhiney, parents of Ashley and owners
of McElhiney's Men's Wear in downtown McKenzie, will serve
as the official hosts of the team when it arrives this
weekend. The Lady 'Dores will be staying in Union City,
but will be guests of the McElhineys on Saturday night.
"We're real excited," said Danny McElhiney. "Everybody's
going to be here that's associated with Vanderbilt's
women's basketball."
The Vanderbilt team will take part in an autograph session
at UTM after the Skyhawk women's game with North
Carolina-Ashville Saturday. UTM and Vandy players will be
available for autographs starting around 4 p.m. on Dec.
21.
Vanderbilt has a policy of trying to play colleges close
to the hometown of all its players through the course of
their four-year career. McElhiney, who is a senior for
Vandy, will get a chance to play 20 miles from the Gleason
gym where she terrorized West Tennessee opponents.
"The VanAttas (UTM coaches Kim and Gary) were interested
in doing that," said Danny McElhiney. "We were excited and
we're glad that it all worked out."
Ashley's sister, Kellie, wore No. 22 at Gleason where she
was a two-time all-stater and led Gleason to a No. 4
ranking in 1989. She later played at UTM.
Danny wore No. 22 when leading Gleason to the 1969 state
basketball tournament. The Bulldogs faced Jackson High
School, featuring Ed "Too Tall" Jones, who later attained
fame with as a defensive linemen for the Dallas Cowboys. |
