KNOXVILLE - With junior forward Rennia Davis sidelined by illness, the 23rd-ranked Tennessee women's basketball team fell victim to a wave of turnovers and poor offense in a 72-55 loss to No. 8 Mississippi State on Thursday night in front of 8,124 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Davis missed the game with the flu, and it cost the Lady Volunteers (17-6, 7-3 Southeastern) their leading scorer (18.1 points per game) and rebounder (8.3 per game) as well as their lone player who really elicits fear in opponents. In her absence, the offense stalled at times against the Bulldogs (21-3, 9-1), and a team that has made a habit of turning the ball over frequently this season didn't have any fallback options.
The Lady Vols committed 23 turnovers that were turned into 20 Mississippi State points.
Led by Rae Burrell, the Lady Vols did take a 21-19 lead into the second quarter, but their offense sputtered in that period as the Bulldogs went on a game-changing 17-2 run. Tennessee committed eight of its turnovers in that 10-minute stretch, when it shot just 25% from the field. Mississippi State led 38-30 at halftime, and the visitors essentially put the game away with their 11-1 run to end the third quarter.
"Mississippi State is a talented basketball team, and we knew we had a big challenge ahead of us tonight," Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. "We had a game plan our players believed in, and we were able to execute it for part of the game. We just weren't able to maintain that focus with the level of execution on both ends of the court. We had some defensive breakdowns that you can't have against that team. I feel like we had to hold them in the 60s to give ourselves a chance, and we obviously weren't able to do that.
"We knew scoring was going to be at a premium with Rennia, so without Rennia it definitely changed how our attack was going to look. Our players played with some confidence, but we weren't able to maintain the level of execution we needed to win the game."
Burrell finished with 20 points and had 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season, though she also had six turnovers. Jordan Horston added 12 points and seven rebounds, but she also turned the ball over six times. Point guard Jazmine Massengill from Chattanooga and Hamilton Heights had 11 points and seven rebounds, while Kasiyahna Kushkituah had six points and eight rebounds.
THURSDAY'S STAR
Mississippi State's Jordan Danberry was a headache on both ends of the court. She was solid offensively (11 points), but she was also a terror on defense with five steals.
STANDOUT STAT
Tennessee ranks 16th in the country and first in the SEC with an average of 17.1 assists per game. Those numbers dip dramatically against top-10 competition, though, and the Lady Vols handed out just seven against the eighth-ranked Bulldogs. That comes on the heels of an eight-assist showing against top-ranked South Carolina, and the Lady Vols had just seven against Stanford, which was No. 1 at the time.
TURNING POINT
The Lady Vols scored 21 points in the first quarter but only 19 combined in the second and third, shooting 24% from the field and turning the ball over 14 times in those middle periods. In that same span, the Lady Vols made just six field goals and shot 24% from the field.
WHAT IT MEANS
Tennessee has some opportunities ahead, but the Lady Vols could really use a win - or two - during this stretch of tough competition. Not having Davis hurt a lot of what Tennessee likes to do because the 6-foot-2 star is relied upon so heavily, but also because the Lady Vols don't have very many talented offensive players. That won't change quickly, so adjustments will have to be made. The defense will have to be leaned upon down the stretch, but others will have to continue to step up and make plays when opportunities are presented.
UP NEXT
The Lady Vols get a week off, which should offer time to rest and heel. When they next step on the court, it will be against LSU (16-5, 6-3) on Feb. 13 in Baton Rouge. The Tigers will be without forward Ayana Mitchell, who is out for the season with a knee injury. Mitchell was second on the team in scoring (13.7 points per game) and led the Tigers in rebounding (8.9 per game).
QUOTABLE
Massengill on losing the lead: "I feel like we really didn't execute the plan in the second quarter. It came back to bite us."
Tennessee senior Lou Brown on what's ahead: "This is a really important week for us, going into the back end of the regular season. We really need to tighten up on a lot of things. We need some good practices and need to lock in, focus and get better and take care of attention-to-detail types of things. That's what's been hurting us the past couple of games. The SEC teaches you to play in those circumstances and perform. That's what the best teams do, so we need to step up to that and use this week to get better."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.