Early in Southeastern Conference play this season, the Tennessee women’s basketball team showed a knack for using the third quarter of games to either turn things around or take control.
Thursday at Alabama, the shoe was on the other foot — and for the Lady Volunteers, it might have seemed more like a boot.
Down just two points at halftime thanks to a run late in the second quarter, the Lady Vols had no answer for Alabama in the third as the Crimson Tide surged to a commanding advantage, outscoring their visitors 28-14 in the period on their way to a 72-56 victory.
Tennessee’s lead in the all-time series remains dominant at 54-9, but the Tide have won seven of the past 12 meetings dating to February 2016.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game,” Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said in her postgame news conference. “Alabama has done a great job of being consistent on both ends of the court. They’ve got a lot of different folks that can make shots, make plays. I thought they disrupted us on the defensive end — we got outrebounded.