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HomeSportsClarksville's Bashaara Graves leads Tennessee Lady Vols past Oakland 84-50

Clarksville’s Bashaara Graves leads Tennessee Lady Vols past Oakland 84-50

UT Lady VolsKnoxville, TN – Tennessee used a 21-0 run bridging the halves to run away with an 84-50 victory over Oakland on Sunday afternoon before 10,333 at Thompson-Boling Arena. The #3/4 Lady Vols (5-0) were led by sophomore Bashaara Graves (15 points and 11 rebounds) and senior Meighan Simmons (14 points).

Tennessee had five players score in double-figures as junior Ariel Massengale had 13 points along with six assists. Junior Isabelle Harrison tallied 11 points and freshman Mercedes Russell had 10 points.

UT Lady Vols defeat Oakland 84-50. (UT Sports)
UT Lady Vols defeat Oakland 84-50. (UT Sports)

The winless Oakland Golden Grizzlies (0-5) trailed the Lady Vols by one point with 2:29 left in the first half at 28-27, but Tennessee opened the flood gates on offense and turned up the pressure on defense.

Tennessee outscored Oakland, 50-23 in the second half.

The Lady Vols scored the first 14 points of the second half including eight in the first 44 seconds to grab a 49-27 lead. The game was never closer than 20 points the rest of the way.

Tennessee led by as many as 34 points after Cierra Burdick knocked down a jumper with 9:30 left in regulation. That was also the margin of the final score after another jumper by Burdick.

Tennessee shot a sizzling 8-of-17 from 3-point range in the game, making 48.5 from the floor overall. The Lady Vols’ defense limited Oakland to just 30.8 percent from the floor.

For Graves, it was her 12th-career double-double.

The Golden Grizzlies were led by Victoria Lipscomb, who had 13 points, OU’s only player in double-figures.

Oakland was pesky throughout first half and was within one point in the final minutes before Tennessee canned back-to-back 3-pointers to end the half and take a 34-27 lead at halftime. Reynolds and Simmons connected to consecutive treys for the seven-point lead at intermission.

Tennessee’s largest lead of the first half was 14 points as a Simmons’ layup finished a 13-2 spurt midway through the half to put UT ahead 25-11 with 7:25 left on the clock.

Simmons led all scorers with 10 points in the first half.

The Lady Vols heads to The Bahamas for the Junkanoo Jam on Thanksgiving Day. Tennessee will take on Virginia at 2:00pm, on November 28th. That game can be heard on the Lady Vol Network.

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