Lady Vols Stifle Stanford, 59-40

It was the game Holly Warlick had been looking for out of her team all season long. And it came at the best time for the Lady Vols on Saturday.

A complete effort on both ends of the floor led Tennessee to its biggest win over a top-10 opponent in over two years and sent the Lady Vols into the holiday break a winner for the first time in four seasons.

"Awesome," Warlick said to lead off her postgame comments. "It was just a great effort by our basketball team. I can't say enough about how hard they played, how much they stuck to the game plan, just really proud of them. They played with just a tremendous amount of energy and I love it. It is fun to watch. It was fun to watch, I enjoyed watching it today."

As has been the Lady Vol way for decades, the effort started with defense and rebounding. Tennessee held Stanford to just 40 points, the fewest by a top-10 opponent in Lady Vol history. UT held the Cardinal to 25.5 percent shooting and forced 20 Stanford turnovers. Along with a 54-46 loss on Wednesday at Chattanooga, it marked the first time since the 1976-77 season that Stanford has been held under 50 points in back-to-back games.

On the glass, the Lady Vols were a force with a 45-31 edge in rebounds, led by Basharra Graves' 10.

"It was a much more physical game than our team was ready for and their size really bothered us on their switching," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. "Obviously, we turned the ball over a lot and we missed a lot of, I think, very makeable shots. So it's disappointing."

Where VanDerveer was disappointed, Warlick was proud.

"I guess I sound sort of like a broken record but what we lack in other areas we spend a lot of time on rebounding offensively and defensively," she said. "We spend a lot of time on the defensive end and getting in shape and getting up and down the floor. It was a huge emphasis for us today."

Offensively, it all came together as well. Graves exploded out of the gate to score the first six points of the game. Ariel Massengale led the way with 18 points, including a 4 of 8 effort from beyond the arc. She has now scored in double digits in three of her four career games against the Cardinal.

"I think she's just a terrific player, and she has been every time we've played against them," VanDerveer said. "She played really well for them. She's their best three-point shooter and she really hurt us coming off screens. We couldn't go under on her or she'd knock down her shot. I thought Tennessee played well and she's a bit part of their offense and their success."

Massengale's motivation on offense came from another old mantra. The shooter's mentality of the only shot that matters is the next one.

"In the first half, I struggled a bit, but my teammates and the coaching staff did a good job of keeping my mind off that," Massengale said. "They kept telling me that the next one would go in. They set great screens for me and made great passes. I knew eventually that one would fall for me."

Warlick did not need to be reminded how long it had been since her team headed into the holidays with a win.

"I'm ready to go anywhere now," Warlick said. "I'll enjoy going anywhere. I will tell you this, it motivated our kids. Ariel Massengale said, `I'm tired of going home and not being in a good mood.' So they took that slogan and ran with it. It's awesome."