Summitt cleaned up in recruiting with Zolman
The winningest coach in women’s basketball. Famous for her intense stare. Even more famous for her strict discipline.
But Zolman got to see Summitt’s more domestic side during a recruiting visit.
Summitt and then-assistant Mickie DeMoss had dinner at Zolman’s home with her parents and then insisted on washing the dishes when the meal was over.
Zolman’s mother, Lynette, said, “‘Oh, no, you can’t do that,’ and we said, ‘Yes we can. You did the cooking.’ So Mickie and I got in the kitchen and did the dishes,” Summitt recalled.
Zolman said she wasn’t surprised to see her future coach washing dishes.
“We already knew how down-to-earth she was and how classy. She just doesn’t forget her roots or where she comes from,” Zolman said.
Summitt, who likes cooking country-style food, says she’s helped clean up at other recruits’ homes, but she doesn’t usually wash all the dishes like she did at the Zolmans.
“I think she tells people that’s how she got me — she washed my mom’s dishes for us,” Zolman said.
Whether or not that’s true, Summitt is grateful Zolman picked Tennessee. She has become one of the Lady Vols’ most prolific 3-point and free throw shooters, although her final season has been tough because opposing defenses have keyed on her.
“This year, since it is my senior year, it’s not only that I need to show my leadership, but I want to show it as well. Every day I am looking at how I can be a better leader for my team in being able to keep us all motivated every single day in practice and our preparation,” Zolman said.
Zolman plans to graduate in May with a degree in broadcasting. She hopes to play basketball as long as she can, perhaps work some in sports broadcasting and be a missionary.
Coached by her father, Kem, in high school, Zolman was one of the most decorated players in Indiana history. She scored 3,085 points in her career, a state record, and was a Parade and McDonald’s All-American.
She committed to Tennessee before her junior year in high school, and she still remembers the day she got her first letter from Tennessee in the summer before ninth grade.
“I remember my dad was on the lawnmower, mowing the grass, and I got it and just started screaming and jumping. I was so happy,” Zolman said.
Her father began coaching the girls team at Wawasee High School when she was a freshman, and she was a starter among seniors.
“You’re thinking that’s just because she’s the coach’s daughter, but after we played a couple of games, they were like, ‘OK. This is for real,'” Zolman said.
Summitt praised Zolman as one of the most improved players offensively this season, and she became even more integral to the Lady Vols last month when guard Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood quit the team for personal reasons. Zolman has helped Alexis Hornbuckle some at the point.
Zolman had one of her worst career games in the No. 1 Lady Vols’ 75-53 loss at No. 2 Duke on Monday. She’s averaging 14.9 points a game, but was held to zero, missing all seven shots. She had no free throw attempts, no rebounds and no assists but had two turnovers.
“Shanna will learn volumes from the last game. If you are not shooting the ball well, you have to focus on getting other people open, playing good defense, being a leader, and that’s one game that I thought Shanna did not respond as well in those aspects of her game,” Summitt said.
“Even a senior has moments that might be, through adversity, not be an easy situation to handle. She will be better after this. She learned a lot.”
Zolman figured defenses would keep an eye on her this season because she’s one of only two seniors and a good shooter.
She trails only Kara Lawson in the Lady Vol records books for most 3-pointers made. Lawson had 250, and Zolman has more than 200.
She had another tough game in Tennessee’s 62-51 win at Notre Dame when a large group of fans from her hometown of Syracuse, Ind., came to see her play. Zolman scored five points.
Zolman rebounded from that showing with 23 points the next game against Old Dominion. She’s scored in double figures in all but three games this season and had 13 against Connecticut.
“As a great long-range shooter, she has drawn the best defender, usually the most athletic, sometimes players with a lot of size,” Summitt said. “In essence, with her ability to shoot the ball the way she can, she has become a target for every team we play.”
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