KNOXVILLE – With a chance to pad its NCAA tournament credentials with a second consecutive quality win on the road, the Tennessee women’s basketball team failed to build on its previous effort.
And nobody really knows why.
The Lady Volunteers fell to 17-9 for the season and 6-7 in the Southeastern Conference with a 79-62 loss Thursday night at Texas A&M. They felt they had some momentum after winning 62-60 Sunday at Missouri (19-8, 8-5), and for a half they battled against the 21st-ranked Aggies (20-6, 9-4), only to slowly fall apart in the third quarter.
Trailing by five, Tennessee got a basket from Rennia Davis on the first possession of the second half, but then Texas A&M went on a 14-2 run to build a 15-point advantage. The lead had reached 20 by the end of the quarter and climbed as high as 23 before the final buzzer.
“We scored 12 points in the third quarter; they scored 27,” Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said after the game on the Vol Network. “It’s a prime example of offense affecting defense. They didn’t do anything different that we didn’t know they were going to do. You’ve got to suck it up and play on both ends of the floor.