Lady Vol Jasmine Jones (2) passes to a teammate against a quick, swarming Texas defense. Number 4 Tennessee fell to the eighth-ranked Longhorns, 64-53, for their first loss of the season. Jones left the game in the second half following a hard collision with teammate Te'a Cooper. There was no word as to her condition at the post-game press conference.
photo by Dennis Norwood
KNOXVILLE – The Tennessee Lady Vols won their first five games of the season, despite playing sub-par basketball against lesser-talented teams.
They weren’t quite so lucky here at Thompson Boling Arena Sunday afternoon before the largest crowd of the year at 10,204 fans.
The eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns ended Tennessee’s 27-game home winning streak with a 64-53 victory in a game that was basically determined in the first half.
Neither team shot the ball very well as Texas finished with 39.6 percent from the field while Tennessee was worse at 30.4 percent, but the difference was the hustle plays and Texas won most of those.
The Longhorns were more aggressive with the loose balls and not nearly as tentative as Tennessee. That extra effort paid off in the long run.
“It was a bit of an ugly game, but it’s early in the season and that’s to be expected,” said Texas coach Karen Aston after her team won for the fifth time against no losses.
“I thought our defense was extremely good and our guards made some good decisions, but we can still get better.
Imani Boyette didn’t score much in the first half, but she was certainly impacting Tennessee’s shots in the paint.
“This team has a lot of potential and we want to be able to compete for a Big 12 championship this year. If you don’t bring your ‘A’ game every night, you’ll get beat,” the fourth-year Longhorn leader added.
Boyette, the 6-7 senior from Los Angeles, finished the day with 11 points and nine rebounds and was one of three Longhorns in double figures.
Lashann Higgs led the way for Texas with 18 points while Brooke McCarty followed with a dozen.
Meanwhile on the other side of the court, Diamond DeShields was the only Tennessee player in double figures as she finished with a season-high 24 points. She also tied teammate Jasmine Jones with 11 rebounds.
“We just got beat by a better team today,” said Tennessee coach Holly Warlick at the start of her post-game comments.
“We’re not knocking down shots and we have to quit turning over the basketball. We had plenty of chances, even in the fourth quarter, but we just didn’t get it done. Texas is a very talented team, but we have to be more disciplined.
“Talent doesn’t always win basketball games, but we have a solid group of young ladies who can get it done and we’ll get it figured out. We had our chances in the fourth quarter, but I think we hit two of 13 shots in the paint. We got some great looks, but we’re still standing around too much waiting for a turnover to happen,” Warlick concluded.
Bashaara Graves and Andraya Carter had back-to-back buckets to give the Lady Vols an early lead at 4-0.
A putback by Carter at the 2:17 mark gave Tennessee its biggest lead at 13-7 while a 3 from DeShields a minute later extended the lead to 16-10 before Texas cut it to 16-13 when the quarter ended.
Higgs scored the first five points of the second quarter to give Texas its first lead at 19-18 before a jumper from the line by Meme Jackson gave Tennessee the advantage at 20-19 with 5:41 left in the half.
Empress Davenport sank a free throw while five straight points from Higgs allowed Texas to lead 25-20 with 2:55 left in the half and it never got much closer.
The Longhorns went to the dressing room at intermission with a 29-24 lead.
DeShields scored on a driving left-handed layup to start the second half, but Texas went on a 7-0 run for a 10-point lead with 6:42 and the Lady Vols never really threatened again.
DeShields got hot and scored nine points in one stretch, but the Longhorns offset that with 3s from Celina Rodrigo and Higgs.
It was still a 49-41 Texas lead with one quarter remaining.
DeShields converted a three-point play with 3:15 to play and Carter sank two free throws with 1:18 left to get Tennessee within four at 56-52, but Texas finished the game on an 8-1 run to win going away.
Texas returns home to entertain Mississippi State on Wednesday while Tennessee will be at home again on Wednesday to face East Tennessee State.
TEXAS 13 16 20 15 -- 64
TENNESSEE 16 8 17 12 -- 53
TEXAS (64) – Boyette 11, Davenport 4, McCarty 12, Rodrigo 6, Taylor 6, Higgs 18, Foman, Lang 7, Hosey.
TENNESSEE (53) – Graves 4, Jones 2, Russell 6, Reynolds 4, Cooper 5, Jackson 2, DeShields 24, Carter 6, Middleton.
FIELD GOALS – Texas 21-53 for 39.6 percent; Tennessee 21-69 for 30.4 percent.
3-POINT GOALS – Texas 6-13 for 46.2 percent; Tennessee 4-15 for 26.7 percent.
REBOUNDS – Texas 41 (Boyette 9, Davenport 4, McCarty 7, Rodrigo 4, Taylor 2, Higgs 5, Lang 4, Hosey 1, Team 5); Tennessee 45 (Graves 8, Jones 11, Russell 7, Reynolds 2, Cooper 1, Jackson 1, DeShields 11, Carter 2, Team 2).
ASSISTS – Texas 16 (Rodrigo 7); Tennessee 10 (Carter 5).
STEALS – Texas 6 (Rodrigo 3); Tennessee 9 (Reynolds 3).
ATTENDANCE – 10,204.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Jordan Reynolds shoots over the Texas defense. With the loss Tennessee fell to 5-1 while Texas stays undefeated at 5-0.
photo by Dennis Norwood