After moving past a lineup that featured Associated Press Top-25 teams Texas A&M and South Carolina, No. 6 Tennessee’s tough road stretch is about to come to an end.
However, its conclusion will feature potentially the Lady Vols’ most challenging opponent yet.
The squad will travel to South Bend, Indiana, on Thursday to face off against No. 5 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 16-2 on the season and are coming off of a 89-60 win over Boston College. Both of the Fighting Irish’s two losses came from highly-ranked opponents. No. 1 UConn and then-No. 3 Louisville are the only teams on the schedule to have bested Notre Dame.
“Notre Dame is a great team,” senior center Mercedes Russell said. “Obviously, they have had a very good season so far, so we’re excited for the opportunity this upcoming week. It’s not an SEC game, but it’s still just another game for us to get better.”
Last year, the Lady Vols escaped the two teams’ matchup with a win after Jaime Nared hit a jump shot in the final seconds of the game, sealing Tennessee’s 71-69 victory. The win was one of the squad’s uplifting moments in an ultimately disappointing 20-12 season and ended a three-game losing streak by the Lady Vols to the Fighting Irish.
Holly Warlick’s team will enter this year’s contest with an impressive 16-1 record which Notre Dame will be looking to damage.
Junior guard Arike Ogunbowale leads the Fighting Irish with 19.7 points per game, followed by junior forward Jessica Shepard with 15.2. Ogunbowale also paces Notre Dame with a team-leading 5.5 rebounds per contest.
Graduate player Lili Thompson, a 5-foot-7 guard, averages a team-best 4.6 assists per game to go along with a 5.9 points per contest mark.
But the Lady Vols have firepower of their own to take into Thursday’s matchup. Seniors Jaime Nared and Mercedes Russell lead Tennessee in scoring, with 17.6 and 17.2 points per game respectively.
Freshman guards Evina Westbrook and Anastasia Hayes have also provided offensive opportunities for the Lady Vols, despite their age. Westbrook averages 10.4 points and has 83 assists, while Hayes has an average of 10.4 points and has notched 66 assists on the year.
The two freshmen were particularly effective in the Lady Vols’ last contest, an 86-70 victory over then-No. 9 South Carolina. Westbrook had 14 points and five assists, while Hayes recorded 11 points and four assists, consistently driving through the defense and to the basket for scoring chances.
Warlick is optimistic about the mentality of her freshmen heading into the challenging matchup, as her team has shown the strength to face adversity already this year.
“The SEC is hard enough, but then we just like to squeeze Notre Dame in, who’s fantastic,” Warlick said during an interview with ESPN2 after the South Carolina game. “Our kids, they just have to stay the course … It’s new to these kids. They don’t know what to expect, and I guess that’s good. These freshmen are really resilient, and they’ve listened to the leaders, and then they’ve helped the seniors.
“It’s a two-way street here.”
Tennessee is 21-6 all-time against the Fighting Irish, including an 8-3 record at Notre Dame. A Tennessee win would mark the second victory over Notre Dame for Warlick during her tenure as head coach of the Lady Vols.
Thursday’s contest is set to tip off 7 p.m. at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana, where the Lady Vols have a three-game losing streak. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
