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Tennessee Lady Vols destroy Ole Miss: 3 takeaways from 81-56 win

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 beat the Rebels in Mississippi to end the regular season. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

After arguably the worst regular season loss in school history, the Tennessee Lady Vols racked up their largest margin of victory in SEC play Sunday. Holly Warlick’s team scored an 81-56 win over the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, Miss.

Tennessee actually trailed very early 5-0 and then 13-10. But they closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run and never looked back. They took a 43-19 lead into halftime and a 64 33 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

With the win, they finish the regular season 18-11 and 7-9 in the SEC, their first losing season in the conference in school history. Ole Miss, meanwhile, finishes the year 9-21 and 3-13 in league play. With an RPI outside of the top 60, the Tennessee Lady Vols need the conference tournament to play their way into the NCAA Tournament. Here are three takeaways from their Sunday win.

1. Meme Jackson finally returned.

Early in the season, Meme Jackson was always a dangerous player for Tennessee. She could get red-hot at any time, and you always had to account for her. But she hit a slump in SEC play and then got hurt, furthering her slump. Finally, on Sunday, she returned and showed her danger. Jackson went an amazing 5-of-6 from the three-point line and scored 20 points, adding 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. She was the star of the game, and if she remains a threat, Holly Warlick could win fans back with a huge tournament run.

2. Ball movement was flawless. 

The Tennessee Lady Vols had 25 assists in the game along with only 11 turnovers. We already mentioned Meme Jackson’s 6 assists. Evina Westbrook added 9 to make up for her poor shooting day, and Cheridene Green had 4 in the paint. Zaay Green had 3 off the bench. It was a great day for Holly Warlick’s team overall, and while unselfish play was never a problem amidst all the issues facing the team this year, they finally executed on it in this game.

3. Tennessee showed exactly what they could be.

Yes, it was only against the Ole Miss Rebels. But Holly Warlick’s team finally lived up to what they were supposed to be. And as a result, it led to a blowout, not just a win, over Ole Miss. They had their top role player step up and shoot well from outside as the Rebels sold out to stop their stars in Westbrook and Rennia Davis, the latter of whom still had 13 points. Meanwhile, they got solid production down low from Green, who had 13 points and 7 rebounds along with the 4 assists. And they moved the ball around in a very unselfish way while forcing the defense to respect their three-point shooting. It’s about time we saw this, but nobody believes they will keep this up. After all, they had no pressure in this game and were focused due to Thursday’s criticism. Can they do it when the pressure is on and the criticism is off? That’s hard to believe.