8:45 p.m. - This one is in the books. Tennessee has defeated the Delta State Lady Statesmen 79-46 in its final exhibition game of the season. The Lady Vols open up the regular season Sunday at 5 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena against No. 6 Baylor.

8:37 p.m. - Here come the shirts again. And they fans go crazy.  At least they use slingshots and air guns to fire them into the crowd. Lady Vols lead 72-41 with 3:42 remaining.

8:27 p.m. - Call me crazy, but I've never understood why fans go crazy when promotional t-shirts are thrown into the stands. Do these people realize these shirts rolled into the size of a softball are merely a wrinkled, unisex extra-large with ratty screen printing on the front? I guess not. They'll learn in time. Tennessee leads 66-38 with 7:48 remaining in the contest.

8:14 p.m. - With 13:38 left in the second half, Kelley Cain has 20 points and 20 rebounds on 8 of 10 shooting from the field. Is a 30-30 double-double too much to ask? The Lady Vols lead 63-31.

8:07 p.m. - One of the game's officials is wearing a pair of black Jordans. I've always thought officials ran funny. Not this guy, he's wearing Jordans. UT leads 56-28. That score sound familiar to any Tennessee or Memphis (football) fans?

7:44 p.m. - Tennessee leads Delta State at halftime 46-24. Kelley Cain has a double-double, already. Cane leads the Lady Vols with 12 rebounds and 12 points. Angie Bjorklund and Taiber Spani each have nine points. Glory Johnson has seven points and four rebounds.

7:31 p.m. - A courtside photographer just made a one-handed falling away (from a seated Indian-style position) save of a bouncing basketball headed out of bounds over his head. Camera in his left hand, ball saved in his right. And he didn't even fall all the way over - nor did the (I assume very expensive) camera hit the floor. I give it a 9 for style and a 10 for functionality. You have to love exhibition games. UT leads 33-14.

7:20 p.m. - Building on my last statement of random fact, Tennessee first faced Delta State in 1972 at the Mississippi University for Women Christmas Tournament. Tennessee fell to the top-ranked Lady Statesmen 74-63. The loss to Delta State that day was the Lady Vols second game of the day (that's right a double-header, with the first game being a win over Clemson), if that tells you anything about the evolution of the women's game. UT continues to lead 26-8.

7:15 p.m. - Delta State served as the first ranked opponent faced in the history the Tennessee women's basketball program. During the early years of women's basketball - the AIAW years, to be more specific - Immaculata College (the Mighty Macs) and Delta State were the two best programs. The Mighty Macs won titles in 1972, '73 and '74 while Delta State won titles in 1975 and 1976. Tennessee leads 24-8 with 11:13 remaining in the first half.

7:06 p.m. - With 15:58 remaining in the first half, the Lady Vols lead 11-5. A sizeable number of Delta State fans have made the trip from Cleveland, Miss. to Knoxville. This just in, their coach yells, a lot.

7:02 p.m. - The 'Fighting Okra' nickname slang provided by Mr. Boling as been confirmed. And it's no surprise if you could see the hideous shade of green the Lady Statesmen are wearing. Regardless, the Lady Vols lead 6-0 at the first timeout. Glory Johnson is going to work in the paint. Make that a 9-0 lead, as I type.

6:40 p.m. - Welcome to my in-game blog from the comfy confines of Thompson-Boling Arena for tonight's exhibition game between the Tennessee Lady Volunteers and the Delta State Lady Statesmen.

Believe it or not, this really is a matchup between two giants of the women's basketball world. But there's one tiny problem, Tennessee is a Division I giant. Delta State is a Division II giant.

The Lady Statesmen, from Cleveland, Miss., have compiled a 121-15 record over the past four seasons, with Division II Final Four trips coming in 2007 and 2008. Delta State is led by Sarita "Bug" Cooper who led the NCAA in 2008 with 289 assists. You eyes don't deceive you, two-hundred and eighty-nine assist. Yikes.

Delta State coach Sandra Rushing has compiled a 177-43 in his 8^th season with the Lady Statesman. That's a pretty impressive record until you glance to Tennessee coach Pat Summitt's record in her 36th year on Rocky Top: 1,005-93. Yikes, again.

The Lady Vols season opener against Carson-Newman resulted in a 124-34 beat down. Something tells me this may be a bit of a stiffer challenge. WVLT's Wes Boling just informed me that the unofficial nickname of Delta State is the 'Fighting Okra', I'll Google it for confirmation (yes, Google can be used as a verb).