Tennessee center Mercedes Russell (21) dives to recover the ball she knocked loose from LSU guard Chloe Jackson during Sunday’s game in Baton Rouge, La. LSU won 70-59, giving the Lady Vols their fourth loss in six games.KNOXVILLE – If games ended at halftime, the Tennessee women’s basketball team’s only loss this season would be to Mississippi State, which is 22-0, ranked second nationally and beat the Lady Volunteers 71-52 on Jan. 21.
The Jan. 11 loss at Texas A&M that halted Tennessee’s 15-0 start would never have happened. The Lady Vols would also have won at No. 5 Notre Dame on Jan. 18 and at unranked LSU this past Sunday.
But as games have progressed this season, woes have arisen for the No. 12 Lady Vols (17-4, 5-3 Southeastern Conference), and the trend has caught up to them the past three weeks.
The Lady Vols host No. 14 Texas A&M Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena with a chance to avenge the loss that sent Tennessee into a downward spiral of four losses in its past six games.
The first three defeats came against highly ranked foes, but the loss at LSU felt problematic to the Lady Vols for a new reason. After leading 31-26 at halftime, Tennessee was outrebounded 26-14 and outscored 44-28 in the second half.