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Tennessee Lady Vols hold off Vanderbilt: 3 takeaways from 82-65 win

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores Sunday 82-65. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

On Thursday, the Tennessee Lady Vols dominated the worst team in the SEC at home by 17 points in a low-scoring affair. Three days later, they dominated the second worst team in the SEC on the road by 17 points in what could be considered a high-scoring affair.

Holly Warlick’s team broke 80 points, pulling away from the Vanderbilt Commodores in the fourth quarter to win 82-65. It was their third straight win after a six-game losing streak. Tennessee controlled much of the game, but Vandy had a strong third-quarter run and continued it into the fourth, cutting the lead to 57-56 with under 7 minutes to go.

But after that, Rocky Top pulled away and closed out the game on a 25-9 run. With the win, UT improves to 15-7 and 4-5 in the SEC, while Vanderbilt falls to 6-16 and 1-8 in the SEC. The Tennessee Lady Vols now have a week off before next Sunday, when they face the Mississippi State Bulldogs on the road in a huge game. Here are three takeaways from this win for them.

1. The top three scorers all finally came together.

Tennessee is at its best with Evina Westbrook and Rennia Davis running the show while Meme Jackson provides speciality scoring. All three of them led the team in this game, with Westbrook scoring 18 and Davis and Jackson each scoring 17. That is the perfect formula for them to win any game, even if Jackson did go 1-of-5 from the three-point line as she still tries to get healthy. Their biggest strength in scoring was at the free throw line, where they all went a combined 15-of-16. Finding ways to score is a huge positive for them. Westbrook and Davis played their other roles well too with five assists and 10 rebounds respectively, so it was a complete performance from those three.

2. Tennessee was just too good inside.

This is the major story for the Tennessee Lady Vols. It’s why Davis, Westbrook and Jackson got to the foul line so much. Mimi Collins was just as effective down low, scoring 10 points off the bench because of how bad Vanderbilt’s interior defense was. Overall, UT out-rebounded the ‘Dores 56-31. Davis had 10 rebounds, but Zaay Green added 11, and Collins and Jackson had five and four rebounds off the bench respectively. The interior dominance was incredible, and it forced Vanderbilt to rely on a press and play a lot of zone, which leads to our final point.

3. Passing by the Lady Vols was atrocious. 

Vanderbilt pressed a ton and relied on a lot of zone. As a result, Tennessee should have had numerous opportunities to score. But individuals kept driving on the zone, and they kept trying to dribble out of the press. The result was only 13 assists against a desperate team. It’s also why they only shot 25 percent from three and 38 percent overall. Shot selection was horrible. This team was lucky enough to get to the foul line a lot on those drives, but they should be making way smarter passes out of a zone and out of a press. Otherwise, another six-game losing streak could be on the horizon.