KNOXVILLE – Diamond DeShields and her Tennessee teammates showed signs of hope Sunday in their last test before the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament.
DeShields scored 22 points while making her first start in 10 games as the Lady Volunteers closed the regular season with an 80-60 victory over Georgia at Thompson-Boling Arena. It was Tennessee’s 10th straight win in the series and 18th in the past 19 meetings with the Lady Bulldogs.
DeShields, a sophomore guard, had gone scoreless in two of her past three games before bouncing back in her first start since Jan. 25. The Lady Vols also bounced back – they had lost four of their previous six games, including a lackluster offensive showing in Thursday’s loss at Alabama, their first to the Crimson Tide since 1984.
“I thought we just needed change,” Lady Vols coach Holly Warlick said on the Tennessee athletics website. “I wanted to give (DeShields) that opportunity. So I just wanted to change it up a little bit. She had a great game against LSU (on Feb. 21). She’s not the only one that had an awful game against Alabama. We all had an awful game against Alabama.
“She’s had two solid practices, so I talk a lot about playing people who practice hard, and she practiced hard the last two days. I thought she needed that opportunity. I think starting helped her get going early.”
Tennessee (17-12, 8-8 SEC) – which dropped out of The Associated Press Top 25 this past week for the first time in 31 years – led 24-4 in the opening minute of the second quarter against Georgia and stayed ahead by at least 13 the rest of the way.
Tennessee’s 80 points were the most allowed by Georgia (21-8, 9-7) all season, as well as the most scored by the Lady Vols in an SEC game this year and their most since beating Steson 90-56 on Dec. 30. Freshman guard Te’a Cooper scored 21 points and senior forward Bashaara Graves added 12 points and 10 rebounds to record the 29th double-double of her Tennessee career.
Georgia was playing its second straight game without usual starting guard Shacobia Barbee after the senior underwent season-ending surgery on her left ankle this past Tuesday. Caliya Robinson scored 17 points, Pachis Roberts had 13 and Tiaria Griffin added 12 for Georgia.
“We can’t come out against a team like Tennessee and not be focused offensively and defensively,” Georgia coach Joni Taylor said. “Defensively we looked like we had not prepared for them at all. Against a good team, you just can’t give them that type of cushion.”
The SEC tournament is Wednesday through Sunday at Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., although Georgia and Tennessee won’t begin play until Thursday. Georgia is the No. 6 seed and will take on the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 14 seed Mississippi and No. 11 seed Vanderbilt. The seventh-seeded Lady Vols face No. 7 seed Arkansas.
Tennessee is No. 31 in the Ratings Percentage Index, so the program’s streak of NCAA tournament appearances – which dates to when the NCAA first began sanctioning the women’s national championship event in 1982 – should be safe regardless of what happens this week.
But a good run in Jacksonville wouldn’t hurt, and it could give the Lady Vols, who have battled inconsistency this season, some much-needed momentum.
“I think we’ve done enough to have an NCAA bid,” Warlick said. “Strength of schedule would be number one. I don’t think anybody has come close to playing the schedule we played. We’ll see, but I coach a team that I know we still have a lot left in us.”