KNOXVILLE - By the halfway point of Monday night's women's basketball game between Wichita State and 12th-ranked Tennessee, the shooting rates for both teams had dipped to the mid-30-percent range.
They kept plummeting over the next 90 seconds as the teams traded misses following a timeout - until Tennessee finally received a spark from two sources.
Tennessee coach Holly Warlick called for a full-court press and then caught a wayward Wichita State pass from her spot on the sideline. She offered a fist pump before she threw the ball to the referee. A crowd of 7,818 at Thompson-Boling Arena responded with cheers, and Warlick's 12th-ranked Lady Vols responded with more intensity.
Ten seconds later, a tenuous five-point lead had grown to 10 points.
The burst helped the Lady Vols overcome a poor shooting night with a 68-56 win over the visiting Shockers (0-4).
Another source in the quick third-quarter spurt was freshman wing Rennia Davis, who stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points and 10 rebounds in Tennessee's final game before heading to Mexico for the three-game Cancun Challenge that runs Thursday through Saturday.
Davis drained a 3-pointer from the corner and made a layup following an Evina Westbrook steal to complete the 10-second spurt.
"I think that was the run right there that we needed," Davis said. "We didn't make many outside shots this game, so when that one went in, I think everybody's energy kind of picked up."
Tennessee made just two of 12 shots from beyond the arc against a quirky zone defense that Wichita State introduced against the Lady Vols. Tennessee turned the ball over 10 times in the first half but just five in the second half.
Wichita State missed on a pair of opportunities to close the gap to six points late in the fourth quarter. Davis forced a turnover and drove the length of the court for a layup to make the score 62-50 with under two minutes left.
The 6-foot-2 Davis has emerged from the nation's top-rated freshman class to become a consistent source of production for the Lady Vols early in the season. The Jacksonville, Fla., native has eight steals through three games. She posted eight rebounds in her first two games before Monday night's 10-rebound performance and is averaging 12.7 points per game. That figure does not include the team-leading 27 points she scored in Tennessee's exhibition opener.
"There's nothing too small or big for Rennia," Warlick said. "What I love about her is she'll ask questions. Whatever it is, she asks questions. She's just soaking it up. She hasn't even tapped the surface of how good she's going to be."
Tennessee began pursuing Davis late in the recruiting cycle, and she said it was departed assistant coach Jolette Law who initially convinced her to consider Tennessee. Law left for a job at South Carolina during the offseason, but Davis appears to be fitting in on the court for a Tennessee team relying on its freshmen.
"I think practice and just constantly being around this team is kind of showing everybody their role now," Davis said. "At first maybe some people didn't know, especially us four freshmen. But I think over time we've started to get it."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.