Tennessee’s Evina Westbrook (2) is pressured by Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale during the first half of Thursday’s game. Turnovers have been a problem for the sixth-ranked Lady Vols.KNOXVILLE – The bad news for the Tennessee women’s basketball team is it blew a 23-point lead against a top-five team on national television Thursday.
The good news – or more bad news, depending on how you look at it – is that a game of similar magnitude awaits the sixth-ranked Lady Volunteers (16-2, 4-1 SEC) this afternoon.
“I think it is great timing for us,” Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said Saturday, choosing the optimistic outlook.
No. 3 Mississippi State (19-0, 5-0) will try to become the first Southeastern Conference team to reach 20 wins in the 3 p.m. contest in Thompson-Boling Arena. It’s the annual “We Back Pat” game, meant to bring awareness to the Pat Summitt Foundation and the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.
The meeting of the SEC’s highest-ranked teams will be televised on ESPN2.