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Tennessee Lady Vols Squeak Past Florida Gators for 74-70 Win: 3 Takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

Mar 23, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 23, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols got past the Florida Gators for a 74-70 home win Thursday. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

It was a ridiculous scare at home, but the Tennessee Lady Vols completed a sweep of the Florida Gators with an 11-0 run late in the fourth quarter to win the game BLANK.

With the win, Holly Warlick’s team moved to 18-10 on the year and 9-6 in the SEC, while Florida fell to 13-15 on the year and 4-11 in the SEC.

The final game for the Lady Vols is a road game on Sunday against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, one of the top two teams in the conference.

Diamond DeShields did indeed return to the game and came off the bench to help the Lady Vols to victory.

Here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ win over the Florida Gators.

1. The Tennessee Lady Vols are finally defining roles. 

This was clear with the team facing adversity it never should have dealt with in the first and fourth quarters. And beating Florida by four is nothing to brag about. However, this was a cohesive win with all the parts working.

Alexa Middleton and Jaime Nared did their jobs as lockdown defenders late in the game, and they took pressure of the stars with double figures in scoring each. Jordan Reynolds kept the team together overall, and Mercedes Russell did her part down low with 17 points and 10 rebounds. But then there’s the clear-cut superstar on this team, and she deserves her own mention.

2. Diamond DeShields has no ceiling.

Seriously, what more could you ask from her? The Tennessee Lady Vols only one this game, and survived a huge scare in the process, because of Diamond DeShields’s return. Coming off the bench and not playing 100 percent, DeShields finished the game with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. Sure, she was only 4-for-12 shooting and 0-for-2 from the free throw line, but that’s even more impressive because it meant she was finding other ways to score.

The biggest thing, though, was when she came through. DeShields sparked the Lady Vols with all hope seeming lost when they were down 68-61 in the fourth quarter. It started with a rebound, then she got an and-one. And very quickly, DeShields alone made the game 68-65. Then, with the Lady Vols down by one with under a minute to play on defense, DeShields got a steal and found Schaquilla Nunn for the go-ahead layup. Simply put, she did everything and deserves a ton of props. However, there’s one caveat to all this.

3. Consistency remains a huge issue.

We keep telling this story all season long, and we have to tell it again. To be fair, the Tennessee Lady Vols get a bit of a break in this game because of how they had to adjust to Diamond DeShields’s return and how DeShields was not fully healthy. But DeShields was still a star, and some of the other players had their best outings.

The question is this: How did Warlick’s team allow Florida to go on red-hot offensive runs in this game? Fortunately for the Lady Vols, they never had any real, prolonged, atrocious offensive droughts. But they had too many defensive lapses, and that once again made this a game of runs. At some point, they are going to have to play a full 40-minute game because they seem to keep having trouble doing that. And it makes no sense.