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HomeSportsTennessee Lady Vols Basketball is on the road Thursday to take on...

Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball is on the road Thursday to take on Indiana

Tennessee (3-1) at Indiana (2-1)

Thursday, December 17th, 2020 | 3:01pm CT
Bloomington, IN | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

UT Lady VolsKnoxville, TN – Tennessee (3-1) and No. 15 Indiana (2-1) will face off Thursday afternoon in Bloomington, with the schools playing for only the second time ever.

The Lady Vols and Hoosiers will meet at 3:01pm CT in IU’s Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Consistent with IU Athletics’ ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of students, coaches, staff, spectators and the local community, the game will be played without fans in attendance. IU Athletics’ decision is in response to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic and is consistent with what has transpired on all Big Ten campuses during the 2020 football season. 

Tennessee Women's Basketball travels to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers. (UT Athletics)
Tennessee Women’s Basketball travels to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers. (UT Athletics)

Both teams had their most recent games wiped out due to COVID-19 Coronavirus protocols affecting their opponents. The Lady Vols had their contest on Sunday at No. 23 Texas postponed because of contact tracing issues within the Longhorn program.

Word of that development came just prior to Tennessee departing the hotel for the Erwin Center in Austin. IU, meanwhile, saw its home game Saturday canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Butler women’s basketball program.

Head coach Kellie Harper‘s squad is coming off its most impressive offensive showing of the season in a 90-53 home win over Furman last Thursday night.

Indiana, meanwhile, suffered its first loss on December 6th, falling in Lexington to No. 11 Kentucky, 72-68. 

Thursday’s game will be live streamed on Big Ten Network Plus with Jack Edwards (PxP) and Griffin Epstein (analyst) on the call. A subscription may be required.

The contest also can be heard on Lady Vol Network radio stations and by audio stream, with Mickey Dearstone behind the microphone. Now calling the action for his 22nd season, Dearstone is joined by studio host Bobby Rader.

A link to the live audio stream can be found on each game’s Hoops Central page or the Lady Vol schedule on UTSports.com.

For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click on the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then click on Vol Network Affiliates in the black bar at the top of the page.

Air time for games on the Lady Vol Radio Network generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.

About the Tennessee Lady Vols

UT is led in scoring by junior guard/forward Rae Burrell, who is putting up 20.5 ppg. and shooting 52.8 percent from the field, 50 percent on threes and 78.9 percent from the free-throw line. She averaged 10.5 ppg. and shot 41, 33 and 60 percent, respectively, a year ago in those categories.

Senior Rennia Davis, who is on all of the preseason awards watch lists and a projected All-SEC First Team pick by the coaches and players, is second in scoring (9.8 ppg.) and is second on the team in boards at 6.3 rpg.

Davis, who averaged 18.0 ppg. and 8.2 rpg. as a junior last season, has had tough luck shooting and has found herself in foul trouble in two of UT’s four contests. It is only a matter of time before the shots start falling and she finds her groove.

Sophomore Jordan Horston, an SEC All-Freshman performer a year ago is third in scoring at 8.5 ppg. and is second in assists average (3.0) and tops in steals average (2.3) as a reserve.

Tennessee has 11 players averaging better than 10 minutes of duty per game and 3.0 points per contest.

Substitutions have been liberal thus far, as Kellie Harper has tried to get valuable minutes for every member of the 13-player roster. Eleven players saw at least 12 minutes vs. Furman, and the other two earned five minutes of action.

Kellie Harper has deployed the same starting five for all four games thus far: Keyen Green, Marta Suárez, Rennia Davis, Rae Burrell and Jordan Walker.

Green (grad. transfer), Suárez (freshman) and Walker (grad transfer) are in their first season at Tennessee.

Walker (7.8 ppg.), Suárez (7.0 ppg.) and Green (6.8 ppg.) are UT’s fourth, fifth and sixth-leading scorers. 

Suárez leads the Lady Vols in rebound average (7.0), while Walker is third in assist average (2.8).

Tennessee Lady Vols’ Last Game

A career day from junior Rae Burrell, who finished with a career-high 26 points and seven assists, fueled a 90-53 Lady Vols’ win over Furman in Thompson-Boling Arena last Thursday night.

Tennessee (3-1) shot a sizzling 54.8 percent from the floor, including an impressive 58.3 percent from behind the arc. Redshirt junior Jordan Walker was also in double digits for the Lady Vols with 14 points and three rebounds.

 

 

Furman (1-3) was led by Tierra Hodges, who had 17 points and seven rebounds. Tate Rodgers and Sydney James each pitched in 11 for the Paladins.

Tennessee, which had 11 players getting 13 or more minutes of duty, closed the game on an 18-0 run, with its reserves hitting at a 63.6 percent clip during a 21-4 fourth-quarter blitz.

Tennessee-Indiana Series History

Tennessee leads the series with Indiana, 1-0, holding a 1-0 mark at neutral sites.

The Lady Vols last faced the Hoosiers in the 1987 Communiplex Classic in Cincinnati, rolling to a 91-52 victory on November 27th of that year.

Lady Vol Head Coach Kellie Harper is 0-1 vs. Indiana and Teri Moren as a head coach, with her final Missouri State team dropping a 98-74 decision to the Hoosiers in Bloomington on Dec. 9, 2018.

Tennessee is 79-14 all-time vs. schools currently in the Big Ten. 

About the Indiana Hoosiers

The Hoosiers are led by a trio players scoring in double figures, including 6-3 sophomore forward McKenzie Holmes (18.3 ppg.), 6-0 junior guard Grace Berger (17.0 ppg.) and 5-11 senior guard Ali Patberg (12.7 ppg.). Berger and Patberg were selected by the coaches and media to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.

The Hoosiers, who have been picked for the first time ever to win the Big Ten, return four starters and nine total letterwinners from a 2019-20 squad that posted a 24-8 overall record and 13-5 league mark to place fourth.

 

 

Indiana is directed by head coach Teri Moren, who is 129-75 in her seventh season with the Hoosiers and has guided IU to five 20-win campaigns. 

Ali Patberg (Nancy Lieberman Award, Jersey Mike’s Women’s Naismith Award, Wade Trophy, Wooden Award), Nicole Cardaño-Hillary (Ann Meyers Drysdale Award) and Grace Berger (Cheryl Miller Award) are all on preseason watch lists.

Indiana’s Last Game

A tough fourth quarter sank (then) No. 13 Indiana on the road, as it lost to No. 11 Kentucky, 72-68, in Lexington on December 6th.

IU struggled to score in the final 10 minutes, shooting just 26 percent in the final quarter. An 11-0 Kentucky run late in the frame put the home team on top for good.

Three Hoosiers hit double-figure scoring. Grace Berger had a team-high 21 points, while Mackenzie Homes scored 16 and Jaelynn Penn knocked in 11 points.  

Holmes added a career-best 11 rebounds for her second career double-double. 

The Hoosiers scored 42 points in the paint, while the Cats had 22. IU out-rebounded UK, 38-37.

Last Time Tennessee and Indiana Met

Bridgette Gordon scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds, while Lisa Webb posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards to lead No. 1/3 Tennessee to a 91-52 season-opening victory over Indiana at the Communiplex Classic in Cincinnati on November 27th, 1987.

Joining Gordon and Webb in double figures were Sheila Frost and Tonya Edwards with 11 and Pearl Moore with 10.

UT shot 56 percent for the game, held the Hoosiers to 37 percent shooting and forced 36 IU turnovers in the win.

 

Reunion For Two GHS Teammates

Thursday’s contest will be a reunion for a pair of high school teammates from the Volunteer State. Tennessee’s Tess Darby and Indiana’s Chloe Moore-McNeil played together graduated from Greenfield High School in West Tennessee.

The duo combined to lead Greenfield to a 131-22 record, including 34-0 as seniors in 2019-20.

Greenfield won a 2018 state title, and its 2020 run was cut short due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.

Darby’s progress has been slowed by a nagging lower leg injury, but she made her debut in UT’s last game vs. Furman, nailing one of two three-point tries and finishing with three points in five minutes.

McNeil is averaging 3.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in 17.0 minutes of duty per contest thus far.

LVFL On Hoosier Staff

LVFL Briana (Bass) Schomaeker is in her eighth season as a member of the Indiana women’s basketball staff, serving as the program’s director of player development.

The 2008 graduate of North Central High School in Indianapolis played collegiately at Tennessee for legendary head coach Pat Summitt from 2008-12 and earned her degree in sport management from UT with a minor in business in 2012. 

Bass, as she was known then, appeared in 118 games during her career in Knoxville and was part of two SEC Championships (2010, 2011), three SEC Tournament titles (2010, 2011, 2012), two Elite Eight runs (2011, 2012) and a Sweet Sixteen appearance (2010). 

She also was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll on four occasions.

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