Tennessee Lady Vols dominate Colorado 69-51: Three takeaways

This was much needed. After a 2-4 start and horrendous outing at the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Tennessee Lady Vols scored a huge Power Five victory Friday night. UT, ranked No. 23 in the AP Poll and No. 24 in the Coaches Poll, beat the Colorado Buffaloes at home 69-51.

Kellie Harper’s team went on a 7-0 run in the first quarter to go up 15-7 and then a 7-0 run in the second quarter to go up 24-9. Colorado never got within single digits after that. Rocky Top never trailed the entire game and at one point pushed the lead to 22 points in the fourth quarter.

At 3-4 now, UT will next host the Eastern Kentucky Colonels on Sunday. Colorado, who fell to 4-2 on the year, will visit the Chicago State Cougars that same day. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ victory.

1. Aggressive defense told the story.

When you shoot 2-of-17 from three, it’s forgivable, but it makes winning a lot harder. Committing 22 turnovers is not as forgivable, and the two issues together makes things extremely hard. However, UT was able to make up for it the Pat Summitt way, by playing dominating defense.

Colorado had 25 turnovers in the game, and Rocky Top had 15 steals. They held Colorado to 17-of-54 shooting from the field and 3-of-11 from the foul line. Nine different players had steals, and three different players had blocks. Karoline Striplin had three blocks. Jordan Horston and Rickea Jackson each led the way with four steals. That also leads to our next point.

2. Two clear stars carried the way.

Horston and Jackson turned their steals into points. They were the only two players for the Tennessee Lady Vols to hit double figures. With 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting, Horston led the way, but Jackson wasn’t far behind with 20 points while going 8-of-11 from the field.

In terms of dominance, Horston was the leading scorer, the leading rebounder with eight and tied for the team leader in steals and assists with four each while only having one turnover, so she was the best player. However, Jackson did have six boards and also had four steals, so she deserves credit too.

3. There’s still not enough dominance down low.

Yes, Jackson played well, and Striplin was great off the bench. However, Striplin had to come off the bench because Tamari Key once again got into foul trouble, eventually fouling out. She finished the game with just one block, two steals and three turnovers. Jackson also had three turnovers too, so they were the biggest part of that issue.

It was even worse with fives off the bench, as Jillian Hollingshead had four turnovers. UT only outrebounded Colorado 38-33, and as we mentioned, Horston was the best rebounder. The Tennessee Lady Vols are supposed to be dominant with their length, but they haven’t exerted that will so far this season, and it once again didn’t show Friday.