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Tennessee Lady Vols score 67-50 win vs. Florida Gators: 3 takeaways

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 won their second straight game Thursday night. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

Hey, two in a row is something, right? Okay, so it came against the Florida Gators, the worst team in the SEC. But the Tennessee Lady Vols at least have a bit of positivity going after a six-game losing streak.

Holly Warlick’s team outscored UF 24-8 in the first quarter and never looked back, cruising to victory at Thompson-Boling Arena. Their win improved their overall record to 14-7 and 3-5 in the SEC, while Florida fell to 5-16 and 1-7 in the SEC.

Up next for Rocky Top is a Sunday road trip to the other worst team in the SEC, the Vanderbilt Commodores, and then they get a week off before their major test at the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Here are three takeaways from this Tennessee Lady Vols win.

1. Inside game is coming along. 

Rennia Davis is technically a guard but she plays inside a lot in similar fashion to Jaime Nared last year. Then there’s Cheridene Green, who needs to be the dominant one under the basket. Well, that happened Thursday. Green and Davis both had double-doubles, with 15 points and 19 points respectively. They each had 10 rebounds. Davis is really coming along now, finally carrying the load when Evina Westbrook needs help. It didn’t hurt that Paige Robinson was in foul trouble and barely played in the game. But hey, they did what they had to do, as the team outrebounded the Gators 48-32. This is what needs to happen. Nared and Mercedes Russell aren’t coming back, so other players need to step up and be aggressive in the paint. That happened in this game.

2. Defense was suffocating.

They only forced eight turnovers. But Holly Warlick’s team shut down the Florida Gators in their half-court sets. It’s pretty obvious when you consider that with so few turnovers they still only scored 50 points. Florida did make six three-pointers, but they took 26 of them. Overall, they shot under 30 percent from the field and could barely get to the free throw line. That made it easy for Tennessee to dominate on that side.

2. The three-point shot is slowly improving.

Horrendous shooting was a trademark of this team with their six-game losing streak. But the Tennessee Lady Vols did make four three-point shots Thursday, good for just under 31 percent. Davis had a three, and Westbrook had two while Zaay Green had one. With the issues in the inside game against more elite teams, they’ll need a bit more going forward. That’s where Meme Jackson needs to come back in. She was finally healthy and saw 17 minutes off the bench, but coming back from injury still didn’t end her outside shooting slump, as she went 0-for-3 from the three-point line and only scored four points. For Tennessee to get its full offense back, Jackson needs to return to form.