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Tennessee Lady Vols 12-0 after beating No. 18 Stanford: 3 Takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 24: Tennessee Volunteers students celebrate after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 24, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Kentucky 82-80. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 24: Tennessee Volunteers students celebrate after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 24, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Kentucky 82-80. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The No. 7 ranked Tennessee Lady Vols defeated the Stanford Cardinal 83-71 Thursday. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ win.

It was their third Top 25 win of the year, and the Tennessee Lady Vols will now head into SEC play undefeated. Holly Warlick’s team continued rolling with an 83-71 road win over the No. 18 ranked Stanford Cardinal Thursday night to close out their California trip.

Tennessee only trailed within the first four minutes of the first quarter. After tying the game 4-4, they never fell behind again.

With the win, the Lady Vols move to 12-0 ahead of the start of SEC play, which will be on New Years Eve against the Kentucky Wildcats. Meanwhile, Stanford falls to 6-6, but five of those losses have come to Top 10 teams.

Here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ win at Stanford.

1. Perimeter defense remains dominant.

The Tennessee Lady Vols have made perimeter defense a mark of their identity. And that showed on Thursday night. They were out-rebounded by 13 and struggled to get their inside game going. However, they forced 15 turnovers, and they held Stanford to 2-of-15 from the three-point line.

Meanwhile, of their 15 forced turnovers, the Lady Vols picked up 11 steals. And they didn’t foul as much as the Cardinal, so perimeter defense was once again key.

2. The veterans keep leading the way.

This isn’t much of a shock, but on Thursday Jaime Nared and Mercedes Russell were once again the two stars for the Tennessee Lady Vols. Nared had 28 points and also added seven steals and five assists.

Russell had an off-night scoring under the basket, shooting 30 percent from the field. However, the way a veteran does, she still found a way to score and made up for her off-night with 10 rebounds and three blocks. And she still had 11 points en route to a double-double.

3. Freshman scoring continues to rotate.

Anastasia Hayes, Rennia Davis and recently Evina Westbrook have all been scoring weapons for the Tennessee Lady Vols. Hayes has been a scoring spark off the bench, averaging just over 12 points a game, and she had 12 Thursday.  Davis, who also has averaged 12 points, scored 9 Thursday. But she was complemented by Westbrook, who continues to show up against the big teams.

Remember, Westbrook had 15 points against the Texas Longhorns. Well, she followed that up with 17 points against the Cardinal. Make no mistake, she was a huge part of the win. And as a result of her and the other two, the Lady Vols are undefeated heading into SEC play, riding higher than they have ridden since the Pat Summitt days.

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