In the early stages of the fourth quarter, Hilary Fuller drilled a two-pointer that put Belmont up five, its largest lead of the night, with 9:37 left to go in the game.
Despite the Lady Vols’ best efforts against it during the first three quarters, they were able to find their footing in the fourth. They defeated Belmont 68-58 using a 14-2 run in the final 4:12, despite not scoring another field goal in the final three minutes.
The game served as the Lady Vols’ fourth contest in nine days, and the fatigue was beginning to show. It was a game of runs, as it usually is, and Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell agreed.
“We’re learning that adversity hits early, and we have to keep pushing,” Kaniya Boyd said. “We have to keep pushing. Coach Kim had said, ‘It’s going to be a game of runs, ’ so just keep pushing through, and I think as a team we just need to all stay together.”
The first quarter started the game strong for the Lady Vols, and by the end of the first ten minutes, Tennessee led the game by 14 points.
As a team, it was the Lady Vols’ best shooting quarter by a mile, shooting 58% despite only going 2-8 from beyond the three line.
The shooting trends took a huge dive during the second quarter, which was statistically the worst quarter of not only the game, but the season. Through 21 attempted shots in the quarter, the team made just three.
Talaysia Cooper was the calling card on offense today for the team. She finished her day with a double-double, including 22 points and 14 rebounds, despite shooting 1-8 from three.
“Cooper was Cooper tonight, that’s just who she is, she’s a dog, she’s a killer,” Mia Pauldo said. “She’s going to put the ball in the basket, and she was there when we needed her.”
After the second quarter, which saw Cooper score the only points of the frame with seven, Belmont trailed by just six entering halftime.
The runs continued, but the momentum stayed on Belmont’s side. The Bruins grabbed the lead with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter.
The Lady Vols shot 31% from the field in the third. After starting the game rather efficiently, they responded with two very forgetful quarters. In the two quarters combined, the team shot 1-20 from deep, as well as nine turnovers compared to two assists.
“The offense is still up and down, obviously it’s not where we want it to be,” Caldwell said. “Some things are getting a little bit better. Our sense of urgency was relevant at times today, playing hard was relevant at times, our press actually looks like we had a press.”
With two straight quarters that dug the Lady Vols into a hole, trailing by a game-high five points to Belmont, something had to change if they wanted to avoid a tough home-upset.
The game of runs continued after Jailynn Banks laid in the go-ahead layup to put Belmont up with seven minutes to go. Neither team earned another bucket for the next 2:06, as Belmont hit a free throw to increase the lead to 56-54 in the fourth.
The Lady Vols responded with their biggest run of the night, a 9-0 run that included two big threes from Boyd and Zee Spearman. After the run that put the Lady Vols back ahead by seven, both teams went on another scoring drought that lasted another two minutes.
“I thought that we were poised when we needed to be poised,” Caldwell said. “That was good to learn about your team, it was good to see.”
The final five points came from the free throw line. When it mattered the most, the Lady Vols made the plays needed to exit the game on top.
After the close nonconference win, the Lady Vols continue the nonconference schedule with a meeting against MTSU on the road on Nov. 20.
