Lady Vols Steal a Hard-Won Game from the Rebels, 57-51

Staff Photo by Angie Stanley

The University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers played the Ol’ Miss Rebels Thursday night for the “Live Pink Bleed Orange” game.  The neck-to-neck battle, in front of over 10,000 in attendance, began with hopes of Diamond DeShields getting the 5 points that she needed to achieve the 1000 point benchmark.  Unfortunately DeShields did not connect with the hoop at all for the night, which put more pressure on the other high scorers for the Lady Vols.  Early in the first quarter, big re-bounder Mercedes Russell rolled her ankle and was out for the rest of the game.  Even though the odds seemed to be stacked against Tennessee, they got some help from the bench.

The Rebels pulled ahead quickly in the first half, ending both the first and second quarters on top.  The half ended with Ol’ Miss on top 33-30.

Staff Photo by Angie Stanley

The second half, just as full of drama as the first, ignited a new fire in the Lady Vols.  Tennessee outscored Ol’ Miss 16-6 in the third, and caused 10 straight misses for the Rebels in the last minute of the quarter, ending the period on top 46-39.

The fourth quarter initially seemed to be going in the Rebels’ favor, with the Rebels’ opening with a 10-0 run to put Ol’ Miss on top 51-50.  The Lady Vols would not be discouraged and rallied, with Courtney Dunbar coming off the bench and getting 5 in the last minutes of the game, sealing the deal for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, and getting the victory 57-51.

The defensive side of the ball was dominated by the Lady Volunteers, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds to the Rebel’s 10: 12 of which were captured by Bashaara Graves.  Total rebound numbers from the Lady Volunteers were impressive, to say the least, with Tennessee grabbing 44, while Ol’ Miss only snagged 28 rebounds for the night.  The fast break game was also dominated by Tennessee, 10-2.  The lead for the game changed a total of 7 times, with Tennessee averaging 34.5% in shots taken for the night.

Staff Photo by Angie Stanley

One of the highlights of the night was Tennessee’s Andraya Carter, who performed the National Anthem in American Sign Language.  She was joined by 2 of her friends from the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville.

Up next, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to face off against the LSU Lady Tigers on Sunday, February 21, at 2 p.m.on ESPNU.

Staff Photo by Angie Stanley