In their first game back after more than a week off due to Christmas and their last game before the start of SEC play, the Tennessee Lady Vols did not look like a team that had been off for nine days. They jumped out to a 22-0 start in the first quarter against the Wofford Terriers.
That led to the Vols cruising to a 92-53 victory. Kellie Harper’s team didn’t allow any points until more than eight minutes into the game and didn’t allow a field goal until more than nine minutes in, and they continued to dominate over the next three quarters.
Rocky Top now improves to 8-6 on the year and will begin SEC play Thursday at the Florida Gators. Wofford falls to 9-4 and will visit the Erskine Flying Fleet Saturday. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ win.
1. New rotation is working.
Defense is the main story with that amazing start, but the root cause of the defense is the way Harper has utilized her rotation. Nobody played more than 20 minutes in the game. What stands out is how she is using her forwards, as she’s using two stretch-fours in Sara Puckett and Tess Darby with Karoline Striplin at the five.
Rickea Jackson and Jasmine Franklin, the two true fours, are both coming off the bench now. It’s working out for everybody, as UT is able to create the mismatches it needs. Jackson still managed to lead everybody in scoring with 16 points, but she had lots of help this time.
2. Shooting was elite.
Here’s where the help came from. The Tennessee Lady Vols shot incredibly well from everywhere on the floor. Obviously, the real story was them going 12-of-28 from three. Jackson went 1-of-2. Darby, one of the stretch-fours, went 3-of-5 with 11 points, and Puckett hit both her attempts en route to eight points.
See why the rotation is working? Anyway, Justine Pissott also went 3-of-5 from outside and had nine points. Jordan Horston went 1-of-2 and had 13 points. Striplin and Kaiya Wynn each hit one too. This outside shooting is why Striplin led the team with six assists. Jordan Walker added four. Going 18-of-22 on free throws also helped.
3. There was total domination on the boards.
Now this is what we’ve come to expect from UT down low. They obliterated Wofford on the glass with a 55-26 rebounding edge, including an 18-6 offensive rebounding edge. Even with only three blocks as a team, showing they are clearly missing Key, they went back to dominating on the block in this one.
Franklin led the Tennessee Lady Vols with 10 boards. Jackson added six, and Jasmine Powell had five. The scoring and rebounding were spread out with how deep Harper went, but it was pretty clear where Rocky Top had the advantage in this one.