With injured players on the bench and the allotted forty minutes looming on the scoreboard, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers struggled up and down the court time after time.
While the team pulled out a 82-73 win over Florida at the 2013 Women’s SEC Tournament in Duluth, Ga., it was battle against time for the starters who played nearly the entire game. Head coach Holly Warlick said it was a matter of setting the tone, the pace and staying on top of the game.
“Our girls found a way to win,” she said.
Warlick said she was looking for a fast-paced game, but the Lady Gators jumped right on board.
“We wanted to push the ball and make them miss. We wanted a fast tempo game,” she said. “I thought we set the tone early. I thought Florida did a great job of adjusting.”
With a shortened bench due to injury, Warlick said she noticed her team lack in energy throughout the game. That’s what comes from speeding things up on the floor.
“We played in spurts so we have to go back and defend the ball a whole lot better,” she said. “…We wanted to attack on the offensive end and I thought for the most part, for the first part of the game, we did.”
Junior guard Meighan Simmons led the team offensively with 20 points, but everyone did their part, with six of the seven Lady Vols who saw action scoring in double figures. Sophomore Cierra Burdick said she wasn’t concerned about the team offensively.
“From the offensive end, we’re just talented,” Burdick said. “We’ve got a bunch of people that can score the basketball and that’s one of our strong points as a team. If we just continue to share the basketball the way we are then I think we’ll be successful down the line. Just got to continue to pick it up on defense because offense isn’t our problem, it’s the defense.”
Even with the win, Warlick said it was time to return to the basics.
“We have to go back to the drawing board,” she said. “We have to get down and defend some people. We’re not gonna always outscore people and we’ve got to make defense our priority.”
Warlick said that with a young team, she hopes each moment is a learning point. With this game, she want’s the team to regain their drive for success.
“I thought the first ten minutes we set the tone and we just get comfortable. We get a lead and we get comfortable,” she said. “We’ve got to have that killer instinct in us and finish the game the way we start the game.”
Simmons said she felt the team came out hungry for the win and full of energy, but ended up a little slower than they had wanted. It all comes back to that fast-paced Tennessee tempo that keep the Lady Vols’ heads held high.
The junior guard said she wants the team to keep pushing for speed as they head into their next tournament game.
“(We have to keep) pushing the tempo, making sure we played Tennessee basketball because when we do that, the game goes good for us and it’s a great game for all of us,” Simmons said.
Tennessee will face the winner of Alabama and South Carolina 4 p.m.
