KNOXVILLE - Tennessee center Mercedes Russell had just drained her eighth basket of the game Thursday night and was trotting back on defense during the middle of the fourth quarter when an aware fan shouted an observation from the stands at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"You need one more rebound, Mercedes!"
A few possessions later, Russell snagged her 10th rebound of the night over a Central Arkansas defender and thus recorded her third double-double of the season in a 77-34 romp over the visiting Sugar Bears.
But the most glaring statistic on a night when Russell scored in double figures for the seventh time in as many games for the 12th-ranked Lady Vols (7-0) involved the team's defensive effort.
The significance of it was one that few seemed to detect in the moment.
Mekaylan Hicks scored for Central Arkansas with 1:04 remaining in the third quarter, and it turned out to be the visitors' final basket of the night.
Central Arkansas (3-2) shot 0-for-15 in the fourth quarter against a Tennessee defense that seemed to improve even after Russell checked out for the night with 6:03 to play in Tennessee's first game back since going 3-0 in last week's Cancun Challenge.
"In Cancun we emptied our bench, and look, our bench has been solid, but we didn't have great effort," Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said. "I thought tonight they came in and we didn't just maintain, we took another step up. I had no idea that we held them to zero points."
Warlick wasn't the only one on the Lady Vols side oblivious to history in the making.
"Our mindset is just to get defensive stops," junior guard Meme Jackson said. "I don't really think we worried about them not scoring. I think we were just worried about getting stops."
It was the first time since women's basketball converted from two 20-minute halves to four 10-minute quarters for the 2015-16 season that the Lady Vols held an opponent without a single point during a quarter. Tennessee also set a school record for fewest points allowed in a half by allowing only 10 on Thursday.
Central Arkansas qualified for the NCAA tournament the last two seasons but is breaking in eight new players this season.
"I'm glad it's over," Sugar Bears coach Sandra Rushing said after the game.
Central Arkansas played at No. 9 Baylor earlier in the season and lost 86-55. Rushing declined to publicly share who she thought was better between Baylor and Tennessee, but she showered the Lady Vols with praise.
For Russell, it was just another night of work. The redshirt senior is now averaging 17 points and nine rebounds per game.
She just needs one more rebound per game to average a double-double. Such things are trivial in light of team accomplishments, though.
"I think tonight, obviously, we set a couple records and our defense was really strong," Russell said. "Holding them to zero in the fourth quarter was huge."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.