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HomeSportsUT Lady Vols win at Vanderbilt, 69-51

UT Lady Vols win at Vanderbilt, 69-51

UT Athletics Department

UT Lady VolsNashville, TN – Balanced scoring and a late fourth-quarter run sealed the 69-51 victory for the Lady Vols over Vanderbilt in Memorial Gym Thursday night.

Tennessee (15-9, 6-5 SEC) ended its five-game road losing streak, while Vanderbilt (15-9, 4-7 SEC) dropped its fourth consecutive contest.

Five Lady Vols scored in double figures, including a season-high 18 points from Jaime Nared. Diamond DeShields scored 12 and added nine rebounds. Mercedes Russell posted 11 points and grabbed eight boards. Te’a Cooper scored 11, while Bashaara Graves added 10 points.

Andraya Carter changed the direction of the game with the scoop and score that put the Lady Vols up 10 at the 3:55 mark in the fourth quarter. Carter’s bucket began a 17-5 Tennessee run to end the game.

Tennesseee Women's Basketball has five score in double figures in win over Vanderbilt Thursday night. (Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports)
Tennesseee Women’s Basketball has five score in double figures in win over Vanderbilt Thursday night. (Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports)

Tennessee dominated inside, outscoring Vanderbilt 42-20 in the paint. The Lady Vols outrebounded he Commodores by a 36-24 margin.

Though Tennessee stretched the lead at the end, Vanderbilt had a chance to take the game down to the wire. The Commodores trimmed the Volunteer lead to six with a Jasmine Jenkins layup at the 5:32 mark in the fourth quarter.

Vanderbilt ended the third quarter on a 14-5 run, cutting the Tennessee lead to 10 at 48-38.

Tennessee entered the half with a 33-19 lead after shooting 42 percent from the field. Cooper, Nared and DeShields scored eight points apiece in the first half. Russell collected six rebounds, while DeShields brought down four boards.

Tennessee is now 67-9 all-time against Vanderbilt and 26-7 against the Commodores in Nashville. The win gives Tennessee the regular season sweep of Vanderbilt. Tennessee won the first matchup 58-49 in Knoxville January 21st, 2015. Tennessee now has a five-game win streak versus the Commodores.

First Things First

The Lady Vols ended the first quarter with a 13-point lead after shooting 47 percent (7-of-15). The Lady Vols held Vanderbilt to 7 points on 3-15 shooting in the first quarter, tied for the fewest first quarter points allowed this year. Tennessee also held Chattanooga to seven points on November 23.

Jaime Nared led the Tennessee scoring attack in the first quarter with eight points.

Although turnovers have been an Achilles’ heel, the Lady Vols ended the first quarter with zero turnovers.

Defense

Tennessee held Vandy to 38.3 percent from the field, it is the third time in the past four meetings that UT has held the Commodores under 40 percent from the field. Vandy came into the game shooting 46.3% from the field, the 11th highest mark in the country.

Vanderbilt is the 17th opponent that Tennessee has held under 40 percent shooting this season.

The Lady Vols held Vanderbilt’s leading scorer Christa Reed to only three points on 1-9 shooting from the field. Reed had been averaging 11.0 points per game entering this contest.

Miscellaneous Notes

Bashaara Graves recorded four rebounds to move past Shyra Ely in eighth place at 940 career boards on the all-time rebounding list.

Five Players scored in double figures: Nared (18), DeShields (12), Russell (11), Cooper (11) and Graves (10). The only other time the Lady Vols have done that this year is in the opener against Central Arkansas where only six players played.

Jaime Nared scored a season high 18 points on 6-9 shooting. Her previous season high came on January 31 against Alabama.

Tennessee held Vanderbilt to 24 rebounds and seven offensive rebounds, both of which are season lows for Tennessee opponents.

Holly Warlick won her 101st game as Lady Vol coach she is now tied for 14th for most wins in a coach’s first four years in the NCAA.

Up Next

The Lady Vols play host to No. 2 South Carolina on Monday at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game will feature a 7:00pm ET/6:00pm CT tip-off on ESPN2.

Tennessee is 47-5 all-time against South Carolina and 21-1 against the Gamecocks in Knoxville. South Carolina defeated Tennessee in both 2015 matchups. The Gamecocks won the regular season matchup in Columbia, SC, 71-66. In the SEC Tournament Championship, the Gamecocks won 62-46.

No. 2 South Carolina took down No. 16 Florida 86-71 in Columbia, SC Thursday night.

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