KNOXVILLE - With a chance to pad its NCAA tournament credentials with a second consecutive quality win on the road, the Tennessee women's basketball team failed to build on its previous effort.
And nobody really knows why.
The Lady Volunteers fell to 17-9 for the season and 6-7 in the Southeastern Conference with a 79-62 loss Thursday night at Texas A&M. They felt they had some momentum after winning 62-60 Sunday at Missouri (19-8, 8-5), and for a half they battled against the 21st-ranked Aggies (20-6, 9-4), only to slowly fall apart in the third quarter.
Trailing by five, Tennessee got a basket from Rennia Davis on the first possession of the second half, but then Texas A&M went on a 14-2 run to build a 15-point advantage. The lead had reached 20 by the end of the quarter and climbed as high as 23 before the final buzzer.
"We scored 12 points in the third quarter; they scored 27," Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said after the game on the Vol Network. "It's a prime example of offense affecting defense. They didn't do anything different that we didn't know they were going to do. You've got to suck it up and play on both ends of the floor.
"We were just not inspired. I don't know how you come in here - great crowd, a chance to make a statement - and you just bag it."
Texas A&M's Chennedy Carter, the SEC's leading scorer this season, had 28 points on 12-for-26 shooting from the field. The Lady Vols' game plan was to give other players open looks while trying to slow her, but Kayla Wells knocked down five 3s - four in the first half - and finished with a game-high 29 points.
Tennessee was led by Evina Westbrook's 17. The Lady Vols shot 38 percent from the field and grabbed offensive rebounds on 17 of their 45 misses but turned those extra opportunities into only six points.
"Uninspired, uninterested," Warlick said. "I don't know what happened from Missouri to here, but the offense wasn't going so it affected our defense. The way to get the offense back is to get down and get stops.
"I have no answer for how we played tonight."
The Lady Vols still can be included in the 64-team national tournament, especially with three regular-season games and a conference tournament ahead. Seven of their wins have come against teams projected in the field, and they have one more potential win against a likely NCAA tournament team when 13th-ranked South Carolina comes to Thompson-Boling Arena on Sunday. The Gamecocks lost at home against Kentucky on Thursday.
"We just have to take it one game at a time as we've done all year," Westbrook told reporters Thursday night, "but now being on the bubble for the NCAA it is crunch time, so winning games is crucial for us."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.