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Three takeaways from Tennessee Lady Vols exhibition win vs. Carson-Newman

By Caleb Calhoun

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Tennessee Volunteers fans reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers during overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Tennessee Volunteers fans reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers during overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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In an exhibition game, the Tennessee Lady Vols beat the Carson-Newman Eagles 70-44. Here’s what we learned form the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

Kellie Harper’s leadership over the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball program provided a nice preview Tuesday night. She oversaw her team win an exhibition matchup against the Carson-Newman Eagles 70-44 in Thompson-Boling Arena.

There obviously wasn’t too much to learn from this, as all 12 players saw at least 10 minutes of action, and nobody saw over 22 minutes. The only thing that’s clear is this team, after a 19-13 record, first-round NCAA Tournament, the firing of a head coach and the replacement of three starters, has lots of work to do.

Still, there were a few positives as well. We’ll break down a bit of what we saw in this matchup ahead of their opener in a week. Here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ win against Carson-Newman.

Leading with experience over potential

Despite the No. 9 ranked recruiting class that had a five-star guard in Jordan Horston and five-star center in Tamari Key, Kellie Harper turned to experience for her starting lineup in this game. She had Jazmine Massengill and Zaay Green start at guard, Rennia Davis on the wing and Kasiyahna Kushkituah at center.

All of those players saw significant action last year. the only newcomer who started was Jaiden McCoy at power forward, and she’s a redshirt junior who is a JuCo pickup. So she has plenty of experience. Horston did play more minutes than anybody, though, with 22, and Jessie Rennie, another freshman, had 20 minutes.

Wings are the stars

We knew that Rennia Davis would be the go-to player for the Tennessee Lady Vols this season, and early on, that already looks like the case. She led the team in scoring with 20 points, shot two-of-four from the three-point line, and was second on the team in rebounds with eight.

The only other player to score in double-figures was first on the team in rebounds with nine, and she just happened to be Davis’s backup on the wing, Rae Burrell. Last year, Burrell was a solid contributor as a backup, but she appeared to take a major step forward and scored 15 points. Is this were the scoring will come from, or did it have to do with the matchup? We need to see more.

Who is the three-point shooter?

Speaking of Davis hitting two three-pointers, those were the only two three-pointers on the game for UT. The loss of Meme Jackson was clearly showing, as everybody else went 0-for-11, meaning they went two-for-13 as a team.

Next. Projecting men's basketball two-deep depth chart. dark

The two freshmen who played the most, Horston and Rennie, were the worst from beyond the arc, going 0-for-nine. Horston missed four. She was supposed to replace Evina Westbrook as an elite all-around scorer, distributor and shooter. Meanwhile, Harper signed Rennie out of Australia, specifically because of her sharpshooting abilities. So both need to improve dramatically.