Tennessee lost one of its senior leaders to an injury and hardly incorporated its other into the offense, but the Lady Volunteers survived a scare and 24 turnovers Thursday night in their first game of the Southeastern Conference women's basketball tournament in Nashville.
Freshman forward Rennia Davis banked in a 3-pointer with 0.5 second left to lift the seventh-seeded Lady Vols to a 64-61 win over 10th-seeded Auburn.
The No. 12 Lady Vols (24-6) will play South Carolina at 7 EST tonight in the quarterfinals with the status of both teams' leading scorers in question.
Tennessee's first-team All-SEC senior wing Jaime Nared left Thursday's game in the fourth quarter after falling on her hip. The Lady Vols turned the ball over four straight times after that, and the Tigers (14-15) closed within 55-54.
When Nared re-entered, she immediately scored to put the Lady Vols ahead 57-54 with 4:57 remaining.
Tennessee head coach Holly Warlick, left, celebrates with guard Anastasia Hayes (1) after they defeated Auburn in an NCAA college basketball game at the women's Southeastern Conference tournament Thursday, March 1, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Tennessee guard Evina Westbrook, left, and Auburn guard Daisa Alexander chase after the ball in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the women's Southeastern Conference tournament Thursday, March 1, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)After the basket, she signaled to the bench she needed to come out. Evina Westbrook entered in her place, and the Lady Vols did not make a shot from the field for the rest of the game until Davis hit the 3-pointer with less than a second remaining.
"I think she's bruised her hip," Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said of Nared as she spoke to the SEC Network moments after the game ended.
Tennessee is 2-0 against second-seeded South Carolina this season, but South Carolina was without SEC player of the year A'ja Wilson in both meetings. Wilson is dealing with vertigo, and her status for tonight's game was uncertain as of Thursday night.
Regardless of who is healthy, the Lady Vols will try to reduce their turnovers. They turned the ball over 28 times in a 70-59 victory over Auburn in January, and they struggled with protecting the basketball against Auburn's trapping defense again Thursday.
"Auburn is just one of those teams that nobody wanted to face, especially in the first round, because of the havoc they wreak on the defensive end," Tennessee assistant coach Bridgette Gordon said on the Lady Vol Network after the game.
Nared led Tennessee with 17 points. Davis scored 16 and was the only Lady Vols to play all 40 minutes. Senior center Mercedes Russell had 12 points and 15 rebounds in 36 minutes but tried only two field goals, both in the first half.
Despite her season-low number of shots from the field, Russell - a first-team All-SEC honoree along with Nared - helped the Lady Vols outrebound Auburn 34-21.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.