Tennessee’s women shot 52% from the field and stopped turning the basketball over in the final 20 minutes of Thursday’s 78-69 Southeastern Conference win at Vanderbilt.
The 22nd-ranked Lady Volunteers (17-4, 7-1) return to competition Sunday at No. 1 South Carolina (20-1, 8-0).
Tennessee led by four points at halftime before pulling away by taking care of the ball and making the most of the bigger lineup Lady Vols coach Kellie Harper went with in the second half. Junior forwards Kasiyahna Kushkituah and Jaiden McCoy combined for 24 minutes after intermission, clogging up the interior and making things tougher on the Commodores’ Mariella Fasoula, who was limited to eight points in the game.
Kushkituah and McCoy combined for just six points in the second half, but their defensive presence erased most of what Vanderbilt (12-9, 2-6) was trying to do. They combined for nine rebounds and four blocks in the second half, and they totaled 12 rebounds in the game.
Tennessee junior Rennia Davis scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the second half and also led the team with seven rebounds. Jazmine Massengill had 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting with three assists and a pair of steals. Jordan Horston and Rae Burrell had 11 points each for Tennessee, despite Burrell struggling with leg cramps in the second half. Horston added six rebounds and five assists.
THURSDAY’S STAR
It wasn’t just Massengill’s points that were so important for Tennessee. The 6-foot sophomore point guard from Hamilton Heights played the entire second half and helped clean up a lot of the mistakes the team – including her – made before the break. She had 10 points in the second half, and despite not being credited with an assist after halftime, she played a huge role in breaking the Vanderbilt pressure.
STANDOUT STAT
The Lady Vols cut their turnovers substantially in the second half, committing only four after having 13 in the first. It’s the only reason that, despite shooting 60% from the field, they led by four points halfway through. Tennessee shot just 46% in the third quarter, but getting more shots off gave them opportunities to be more aggressive, and they finished the game with 25 points in the final period, taking 13 shots and only turning it over twice in the final 10 minutes.
TURNING POINT
The Lady Vols were never able to fully pull away from Vanderbilt, but what they did do was answer each run the Commodores made in the second half. The Lady Vols opened up a four-point edge going into the fourth quarter with 16 points in the first 5:28 of the period, which put them comfortably up by double digits.
WHAT IT MEANS
This was the game the Lady Vols needed. It wasn’t pretty – the case all too often this season – but the result was a win. Tennessee drew even with Mississippi State in the league loss column and remains a game behind South Carolina. Those are the next two opponents on the schedule, and Sunday’s game will tell a lot about what this team is going to be.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.