KNOXVILLE – For an afternoon, everything looked great for the Tennessee women’s basketball team. It’s been a while since the joy of a dominant win was able to wash over the program, which has been much-maligned.
Now the next step will be how the Lady Volunteers build on it.
The Lady Vols thrashed Ole Miss 81-56 on Sunday at The Pavilion at Ole Miss to end the regular season at 18-11 overall and 7-9 in the Southeastern Conference. There’s no doubt that it’s been a disappointing campaign with narrow losses early in the conference slate that snowballed into lopsided defeats and head-scratching losses toward the end, but that mattered little on Sunday.
Tennessee went on a 33-9 run over the final 12:18 of the first half and ultimately posted its biggest winning margin since defeating Florida A&M 96-31 on Nov. 18.
“This season has had ups and downs, but we’ve got to cherish this moment,” senior guard Meme Jackson, who scored 20 points Sunday, told reporters after the game. “It’s been games we’ve lost where we’ve just got to keep our head up, continue to move forward and focus on the next game.