Vols were glad they listened
Warlick recounts how they became aware of Bjorklund
Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said she wouldn’t complain if all of the 8,686 fans who attended Saturday’s epic game against Gonzaga would return to the Arena tonight to cheer for the Lady Vols against Maryland in the Spokane Regional finale.
She even suggested that Tennessee could find some orange T-shirts.
“I think they have a great love for women’s basketball or they wouldn’t have had so many people in the stands,” Warlick said.
“I wouldn’t be upset if they cheer for us.”
One of those fans Saturday who watched the Lady Vols come from 17 points down to beat Gonzaga was Angie Bjorklund, who played at University High School before helping former Tennessee coach Pat Summitt win the last of eight titles in 2008.
Warlick told the story how Summitt first heard of Bjorklund.
“Pat was sitting next to (Stanford coach) Tara VanDerveer at a recruiting event and Pat overheard Tara talk about … this great kid,” Warlick said. “We didn’t know anything about Angie Bjorklund.”
Summitt then called Warlick, a longtime assistant, and got her working on finding information about this shooting guard from Spokane.
“We immediately got up here and obviously loved what we saw,” Warlick said.
“Thank goodness Pat … had big ears and Angie was willing to come out of this area. Angie was huge for us.”
Bjorklund played four seasons at Tennessee, ending with 2010-11. She averaged 28.8 minutes and 11.1 points per game in scoring 1,469 points. She set the school record with 305 3-pointers on 45 percent shooting from the arc.
Angie’s older sister, Jami, played for Gonzaga 2005-2009 and scored 975 career points.
“So, I’m sure they had mixed emotions of who they wanted to win,” Warlick said. “It was really great to see her.”
Tom Clouse