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Tennessee Lady Vols handle Ole Miss 70-58: Three takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 14: A general view of megaphones for the Tennessee Volunteers cheerleaders against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the quarterfinals of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Georgia Dome on March 14, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 14: A general view of megaphones for the Tennessee Volunteers cheerleaders against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the quarterfinals of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Georgia Dome on March 14, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Three days after blowing out the Texas A&M Aggies, a top 25 opponent in both polls, the Tennessee Lady Vols cruised to victory against a team that, like them, was undefeated in the SEC heading into a game. UT snapped Ole Miss’ 13-game winning streak and beat them 70-58 on the road, their first loss since their opener against the Belmont Bruins.

Most of the first quarter was close, but Rocky Top closed it out on a 5-0 run. Then, up 19-15 in the second, they went on a 13-0 run. Ole Miss would never cut it to within single digits. Kellie Harper’s team, ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll and No. 8 in the Coaches Poll, expanded the lead to 20 in the second half. The Rebels cut it to 51-40 in the third, but that’s as close as they got.

With the win, UT improves to 15-1 and 4-0 in the SEC, the only remaining undefeated team in league play, with a trip to the Vanderbilt Commodores set for this Thursday. Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s Rebels fall to 13-1 and 1-1 in SEC play with a visit from the Alabama Crimson Tide set for this Thursday. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ victory.

1. Jordan Horston led the dominance in the paint.

For most of the game, Harper’s strategy was to attack Ole Miss’ wings. She did it with her combo guard and her skilled forward. Jordan Horston was the star, scoring 20 points and coming away with 11 rebounds. She also had two steals while the team had nine overall, which allowed her to score lots of points in transition.

Helping Horston out from the half-court sets was Alexus Dye. Tamari Key only scored six points, as she only took two field goal attempts, but Dye consistently attacked the basket, coming away with 17 points. Keyen Green took advantage of her chances as well. She had just five points but hit both field goal attempts. UT won the rebounding battle 46-28, to nobody’s surprise.

2. Tess Darby did just enough to stretch the floor.

As a team, the Tennessee Lady Vols struggled from the three-point line. Rae Burrell is still getting back in the swing of things, and she had just two points off the bench while going 0-of-3 from the field and 0-of-2 from three. UT as a whole was 4-of-14 from outside.

However, Tess Darby was the exception. She went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc en route to 13 points. This was huge, as most of Rocky Top’s scoring was attacking the rims from the perimeter against the wings and scoring in transition, but they did have to stretch the court some in their half-court sets. Darby made sure that would happen in this game.

3. Turnovers could be concerning going forward.

It’s nowhere near as bad as last year, but every now and then, UT’s turnover problem that comes with Horston’s explosiveness rears its ugly head. That happened in this game. Horston had five turnovers, and Brooklynn Miles had four off the bench.

Standing out above all them, though, was Jordan Walker, who had seven turnovers. The tempo was naturally going to create some of this, but the team as a whole had 22 turnovers, which is far too much. Going forward, the Tennessee Lady Vols obviously need to play with a lot more control, especially as SEC play continues.