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Lady Vols settle down after halftime, beat Middle Tennessee in NCAA tourney

AP photo by Stephen Spillman / Tennessee's Rennia Davis, right, guards Middle Tennessee State's Deja Cage during the first half an NCAA tournament first-round game Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. Davis had 24 points and 14 rebounds to help the third-seeded Lady Vols break out of a halftime tie and cruise to an 87-62 win.
AP photo by Stephen Spillman / Tennessee's Rennia Davis, right, guards Middle Tennessee State's Deja Cage during the first half an NCAA tournament first-round game Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. Davis had 24 points and 14 rebounds to help the third-seeded Lady Vols break out of a halftime tie and cruise to an 87-62 win. AP photo by Stephen Spillman / Tennessee's Rennia Davis, right, guards Middle Tennessee State's Deja Cage during the first half an NCAA tournament first-round game Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. Davis had 24 points and 14 rebounds to help the third-seeded Lady Vols break out of a halftime tie and cruise to an 87-62 win.

By JIM VERTUNO / The Associated Press 5 min read

AUSTIN, Texas – For two quarters Sunday afternoon, the Middle Tennessee State University women’s basketball team looked quick enough and bold enough to make a run at a historic upset in the NCAA tournament.

Tennessee’s size, speed and depth shut down any hope of that in a dominant second half.

Rennia Davis scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the third-seeded Lady Volunteers slammed the door on the 14th-seeded Lady Blue Raiders, using a muscular third quarter to pull away for an 87-62 victory in the first round of the River Walk Region.

Tennessee now heads to San Antonio – the central location for the entire tournament this year – for a Tuesday matchup against No. 6 Michigan (15-5), which beat Florida Gulf Coast 87-66 on Sunday.

MTSU (17-8) and guard Anastasia Hayes, who started her collegiate career at Tennessee, looked like they could pull off a shocker early on when they were tied with the Lady Vols (17-7) at 39 at halftime of the game played at the Frank Erwin Center on the campus of the University of Texas. But the Lady Raiders’ bid to become the first No. 14 seed to win an NCAA women’s tournament game was worn down against Tennessee’s superior size and length.