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Tennessee Lady Vols beat Auburn with strong second half: 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 swept the Auburn Tigers with a 73-62 win Thursday. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

Despite trailing at halftime, the Tennessee Lady Vols used a dominant third quarter to beat the Auburn Tigers 73-62 at home Thursday night and move one step closer to getting firmly back in the NCAA Tournament. The win was a major rebound from their 91-63 blowout loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs last Sunday.

Holly Warlick’s team got their first of four potential quality wins coming up in the RPI, and it was their second win f the season over Auburn, a team they beat in their SEC opener. With the win, they move to 16-8 and 5-6 in the SEC, having won four of their last five. Auburn falls to 18-7 and 6-6 in the SEC.

The victory gives UT a little breathing room too. Up next, they have two road games at the Missouri Tigers and the No. 22 ranked Texas A&M Aggies, two golden opportunities to gain some respect back. Before going there, though, here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ win over Auburn.

1. It was Zaay Green’s night.

We’ve been saying for a long time that Evina Westbrook and Rennia Davis need some help from a third scorer, and they got it in this game. Zaay Green finally stepped up in a big way, scoring 25 points on 12-of-16 shooting. She only hit one three-pointer and had no free throw attempts, so it was her smart midrange game that killed it. Combine that with seven rebounds, and this was an amazing night for her. If she can maintain that threat, UT may have something special here.

2. Evina Westbrook showed how missed she was.

This may seem weird on the surface. Evina Westbrook, in her return, had a horrible scoring night, going 1-for-11 from the field. But she still showed her value with her insane intelligence and awareness by finding a way to get nine points with a three-pointer and then getting to the foul line, where she hit all six free throw attempts. Most notably, though, Westbrook had 10 assists in the game. She was the big reason that Green was so effective, and that is why she is so valuable to the team. When her shot isn’t falling, she can get to the line and find ways to involve other people. Her absence is why Mississippi State was so dominant on Sunday.

3. The inside game was back!

This was Pat Summitt basketball. The Tennessee Lady Vols dominated the Auburn Tigers in the paint. We already mentioned that Green got most of her points there. Well, Cheridene Green and Rennia Davis both had double-doubles with 16 and 15 points respectively and 11 and 10 rebounds respectively. The Lady Vols out-rebounded the Tigers 45-30, and they notably had 17 offensive rebounds. This was a dominant game in the paint, one that requires us to give the a ton of credit. And the best part was they stuck with that despite being down by five in the third quarter, which allowed for their 22-10 run in the third. Kudos to them for using their strengths.