On Thursday, the Tennessee Lady Vols beat UConn women’s basketball for the first time since 2007 in a revival of an old rivalry dating back to the Pat Summitt days.
Could another rivalry spark up on the other side of the state?
Shea Ralph, the Vanderbilt women’s basketball coach, both played and coached against Tennessee, and her mother was close with Summitt dating back to their days playing together in the World University Games. Ralph’s mother could have been on the 1976 Olympic team with Summitt as well, but she was pregnant with Ralph. Because of that connection, any assumed that Ralph would play for the Lady Vols.
Ralph instead chose UConn and played there for five years. She became an assistant there in 2008 and worked there for 13 years before taking the Commodores job. But she got to coach just two games in the series, in 2020 and 2021, as the rivalry was on hiatus between 2008-20.
In January, Ralph got her first win over Tennessee as Vanderbilt’s coach. The Commodores won, 71-70, at Memorial Gymnasium. Vanderbilt has played UConn eight times, most recently in 2019, but never with Ralph at the helm.
Ralph said she would be open to playing her former school after the Commodores’ 87-66 loss to Texas.
“Of course, that’s how you got to win championships, right?” Ralph said. “I want to play them all. So yes, I would love to.”
That meeting could even come sooner than anticipated. UConn is expected to host NCAA tournament games this year, projected as a No. 2 seed in the most recent bracketology while Vanderbilt was projected a No. 6 seed. But if either the Huskies or Commodores moved down a seed line, the two teams could face off in Storrs come March.
VANDERBILT VS TEXAS GAME Vanderbilt women’s basketball falls to Texas as Khamil Pierre scores 26
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Shea Ralph, Vanderbilt women’s basketball open to playing UConn
