The Lady Vols started the 2020-21 season campaign with an 87-47 win against Western Kentucky in Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday night.
“Well, it feels so good to get to play today,” Head Coach Kellie Harper said with a grin. “I’m really proud of our team. I think they have held it together really well this preseason, with the uncertainties that we have had this year. I was really happy for them to be able to come out and to compete at home in front of our fans.”
Tennessee was led by Rae Burrell, who had 18 points and seven assists which were a career-high. Rennia Davis finished with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Three players dropped double-digit points in their Lady Vol debut; Jordan Walker, Marta Suárez, and Destiny Salary tallied 13, 11, and 10, respectively.
Ally Collett led WKU with 16 points and three rebounds. Meral Abdelgawad was second on the team with 13 points. She also notched nine rebounds and three assists.
The opening quarter featured a group effort by Tennessee. Seven Lady Vols scored in their 17-point first quarter. Davis scored the first basket of the season for the Lady Vols, after driving to the basket for a layup. A couple of minutes later, Jordan Horston picked the pocket of a WKU player and dished it out to Suárez who scored in transition to give Tennessee a 9-4 lead with 5:48 remaining in the quarter. With 2:38 remaining, Collett drained a basket from behind the arc to put WKU within five of the Lady Vols. Horston would then go on to convert both of her attempts at the charity stripe before Myriah Haywood countered with a three to cut Tennessee’s lead to 17-13.
“I’m not gonna lie, I loved it when I heard that I was in the starting five,” Suárez said. “I love that the coaches have trusted me to be out there since the beginning. What matters is that we were able to play today and you can’t take that for granted. We all did great and you gotta go out there and give one hundred percent. I’m proud of myself and proud of the team.”
The second quarter for Tennessee proved to be their least efficient of the evening. The Lady Vols shot just 38.1% from the field and went one for four on their free throw attempts. However, Tennessee did shoot 50% from three, which helped them to score 21 points. While their offense struggled, their defense was able to step in. WKU shot just 18.2% in the quarter and 16.7% from behind the arc. The Lady Vols used this to their advantage as they entered the half with a 38-20 lead.
Collett opened up the second half with another three for WKU. Both teams traded blows against each other until Walker scored on back-to-back possessions to give Tennessee a 20 point lead. Later in the quarter, the Lady Vols went on a 10-0 run, six of those points came from Kasiyahna Kushkituah. Tennessee continued to pour it on as Salary scored on back-to-back possessions as well and even capped off the quarter with a buzzer-beater three to increase Tennessee’s lead by 32.
“I thought we played hard. It took us a little while to settle in offensively,” Harper said. “I still think we missed some shots we can make and we can clean up some execution offensively, before our next game. Defensively, we just had some kids that made plays, but overall, our one-on-one defense could be better. You don’t come out game one and be perfect, but I’m proud of our team and proud of our effort. I think we had some really bright spots and encouraging moments that are really gonna help us.”
The Lady Vols finished the game the same way they started it, as a unit. Tennessee used eight players to score 19 points in the final quarter, while WKU scored just 11. Tennessee would win the game by 40 points after the final buzzer.
“Being out there on our home court today, for our debut, it felt amazing,” Walker said. I really couldn’t sleep last night and early this morning I was up saying, go back to sleep, go back to sleep, but I was just so excited to come out here and play. We came out and we did well today. I just think that this team is going to do great things this season.”
Up next for Tennessee is a weekday match against in-state rival, ETSU. The two will play on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena.
