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Tennessee Lady Vols collapse in blowout loss at Mississippi State: 3 takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

CLEVELAND - APRIL 01: Fans of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers support their tema against the North Carolina Tar Heels during their National Semifinal game of the 2007 NCAA Women's Final Four at the Quicken Loans Arena on April 1, 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio. Tennessee won 56-50. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND - APRIL 01: Fans of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers support their tema against the North Carolina Tar Heels during their National Semifinal game of the 2007 NCAA Women's Final Four at the Quicken Loans Arena on April 1, 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio. Tennessee won 56-50. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols suffered a blowout at the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ loss.

Despite a week of rest to prepare, the Tennessee Lady Vols’ three-game winning streak came to an end in embarrassing fashion Sunday. Holly Warlick’s team was dominated by the No. 6 ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs on the road 91-63.

Tennessee trailed by six at halftime but collapsed late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. With the loss, they fell to 15-8 on the year and 4-6 in the SEC, while Mississippi State improved to 22-1 and 10-0- in the SEC.

Up next for Rocky Top is a return home to face the Auburn Tigers, whom they beat on the road to open this SEC season. Before we get to that, though, here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ blowout loss.

1. No Evina Westbrook killed the offense.

Evina Westbrook is the Tennessee Lady Vols’ best player, and she was suspended for a violation of team rules. As a result, their entire offense was about trying to push the ball in transition and hoping they could hit some outside shots. The team actually shot well, but they had 18 turnovers and only nine assists. Ball movement was horrible all the way around, and it was the biggest killer in the game.

2. The bad runs are back.

We’ve been saying for a while that Tennessee is extremely streaky and manages to collapse for a random quarter every game. Well, they waited until the fourth quarter to do that here. Holly Warlick’s players provided fool’s gold  for viewers by trailing by only two possessions at halftime, but that became a 12-point deficit at the end of the third. Then, in the fourth, everything collapsed, and Mississippi State outscored them 30-14. That turned the game into a blowout and is indicative of something that’s happened all year long.

3. The shooting is at least getting better.

Look, the biggest problem for this blowout was no Evina Westbrook. With the outside shooting back, her presence would’ve made this a game. They shot 45.5 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from the three-point line while hitting 8-of-10 free throws. Rennia Davis led the way with 29 points and going 3-of-6 from the three-point line. But Zaay Green also had 13 points and hit a half-court shot at the end of the third that just barely didn’t get off in time. Meme Jackson was off, but if she gets her form back and everybody else stays consistent, there are some positive things to build off of when Westbrook returns.