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Tennessee Lady Vols hold off Belmont: 3 takeaways from 84-76 win

By Caleb Calhoun

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Smokey, the mascot of the Tennessee Volunteers, performs during a time out in the second half against the Wright State Raiders in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Smokey, the mascot of the Tennessee Volunteers, performs during a time out in the second half against the Wright State Raiders in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols held off the Belmont Bruins Sunday. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

Two days after a dominating win over the Murray State Races, the Tennessee Lady Vols had to struggle to get to 11-1. Holly Warlick’s team scored an ugly 84-76 victory over the Belmont Bruins, who fell 7-4 on the season.

It was the final non-conference game for Tennessee, who will begin its SEC season Thursday at the Auburn Tigers. The win was also their third in a row dating back to Friday, Dec. 21 as they beat the ETSU Bucs, which followed a 95-85 home loss to the Stanford Cardinal.

Warlick’s squad beat ETSU by 19 and Murray State by 21 before struggling to put away this game. But a win is a win. Here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ ugly victory against their in-state foe from the Ohio Valley Conference.

1. Evina Westbrook is back.

After scoring in single digits against the ETSU Bucs and then just 10 points against the Murray State Racers. That was a drop-off from her four straight 20 point games that occurred previously. But she returned when needed in this one. After Belmont made things close, Westbrook stepped up and hit some huge shots in the fourth quarter. As a result, she finished with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. So she continues to show a huge sophomore leap.

2. The runs are once again a problem.

This was an issue before the last two blowout wins. The Tennessee Lady Vols continue to rely on too many runs, and they give up too many. In this case, they allowed a huge third quarter run from Belmont that never should never have happened and were only up by a point heading into the fourth. Consistent complacency after taking control could cost this team in future games.

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3. There is nothing to worry about just because this game was close.

The consistent runs that happen when the Lady Vols play is an issue, but there’s nothing specifically to worry about with this game being close. Belmont is actually a pretty decent team. On top of that, this game was on a Sunday afternoon following a Friday night game for UT while Belmont had 10 days off. So the fatigue and surprise talent of Belmont were enough to make this game close, and it should have been expected. Holly Warlick’s team will be fine by Thursday.