Bashaara Graves entered the night finding herself on three different watch lists — career free throws made, career rebounds and games started.
Before the night ended, Graves had moved up one spot on each of the lists. The senior’s dominating performance gave the Lady Vols the boost they needed to beat the Ole Miss Rebels 57-51.
After the game, Graves joked that a cold ice bath was waiting for her after playing 36 minutes in the win.
“It’s gonna be a long one,” Graves said. “Just gotta get ready for the next game.”
The senior had 15 points on 5-13 shooting and snagged 12 rebounds in the win. The double-double was the 28th one of the senior’s career and the seventh one this year.
There was an extra weight on Graves’ shoulders Thursday night after starting center Mercedes Russell went down early in the first quarter with an ankle injury that kept her sidelined the remainder of the game.
Head coach Holly Warlick was pleased with Graves’ leadership after Russell went down with the injury.
“She’s just so constant,” Warlick said. “She’s playing like she’s on a mission, and she is. She’s a senior, and she’s leading this basketball team. Her effort is unbelievable … I just can’t say enough about Bashaara.”
Warlick later said that she was unsure of the severity of Russell’s injury, but that the redshirt sophomore told her that she was “okay.”
Diamond’s Dud: With Delino DeShields in attendance after his social media outburst on Monday, Diamond DeShields slipped up offensively in the win over the Rebels (10-16, 2-11 SEC).
DeShields only needed five points to move into the 1,000 career points club, but the former Tar Heel ended up with zero points on 0-4 shooting. She also had four turnovers, four rebounds and two assists during the game.
Warlick feels that DeShields is trying to do too much on the court and that she needs to settle and let the game come to her.
“She’s trying to play so hard with everyone else that she’s going 0-4 with four turnovers,” Warlick said. “It wasn’t a great night for her, and she was still positive on the bench.
“I think she was pressing, and she just didn’t have a good game.”
Turnovers turned down: The Lady Vols’ 12 first half turnovers looked to be steering the team toward another tough game.
However, Tennessee cleaned up its act in the second half, committing a season-low five turnovers and finishing with 17, which is their season average.
Their second half turnover amount was only the second time this season that the team has scored single-digit turnovers in a half. The last time it happened was Dec. 19 against Oregon State. The Lady Vols committed nine turnovers in the first half of their win against the Beavers that day.
Sophomore Jaime Nared said that the team played more efficiently in the second half, resulting in fewer turnovers.
“We just have to make smart passes and not turn the ball over as much,” Nared said.
Up Next: The Lady Vols (16-10, 7-6 SEC) will travel to LSU to take on the Tigers on Sunday (TV: ESPNU, 2 p.m. ET) before making the trip to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide next Thursday night. That game is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Tennessee’s final home game will take place on Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2. The game will be Senior Day and will be the final game of the season before the Lady Vols head to Jacksonville, Florida in March for the SEC Tournament.
