The No. 4 seed Lady Vols found their footing in the second quarter to beat No. 13 Saint Louis (17-18) 95-50 in Thompson-Boling Arena. They will No. 12 Toledo (29-4) on Monday in the round of 32.
The duo of Jordan Horston and Rickea Jackson led the way for Tennessee (24-11). Horston led the way with 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting and eight rebounds. Jackson wasn’t far behind with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
“I would just have to say our pace and our tempo,” Jackson said on what led to Tennessee’s success. “Our energy, just made it fun tonight. Just fining my teammates in their spots and continuing to have a high assist number.”
Every active Lady Vol scored in their dominant win over the Billikens
The first quarter was back and forth for both teams. Jordan Walker had six points in the first quarter, but a full-court press from the Billikens slowed Tennessee’s offense. Despite open looks, Saint Louis shot 33% from the field compared to Tennessee’s 53%.
Jordan Walker had a great night for the Lady Vols. She finished plus-30 with 11 points, three boards, three assists and three steals against the Billikens.
“I’ve just been focusing on being who I am at the end of the day,” Walker said. “Just giving everything I can for my team. If that means being aggressive, if it means taking an open shot, so that’s what I have to do. I just want to be my best for this team.”
The Billikens looked poised to cut into Tennessee’s lead with a five-point swing to open the second quarter, but the Lady Vols’ offense hit its stride.
Tennessee ripped off a 21-0 run in the second quarter, holding Saint Louis scoreless for over six minutes to finish off the quarter. The Lady Vols’ run was 24-2 over the final eight minutes in the first half, ultimately ending any upset bid from the Billikens.
“Our intensity was good I thought,” Harper said. “I thought we played hard. I thought we were aggressive. I think that’s important. I thought we were pretty physical.”
The Lady Vols kept it rolling in the third quarter, making their run 29-0 before Saint Louis finally scored a bucket. With an over 30-point lead, the Lady Vols mixed freshman Justine Pissott and other backups into the rotation.
Defense leads to offense for Tennessee, and the defense showed up to hold Saint Louis scoreless for almost a full quarter.
“We got to get a stop,” Horston said. “Get so many stops we get a kill. We were just focusing on, all right, let’s get this stop in this possession so we can get a kill. That just leads to offense, like I said. I been preaching that since the beginning of the season.”
Before some of the bench players came on, Tennessee was shooting 66% from the field. Saint Louis ended the third on a 7-0 run and head coach Kellie Harper opted to go with the starters to begin the fourth.
With the bench players in to close out the game, the Lady Vols finished on a 16-6 run to coast to victory.
“They did an excellent job on both ends of the court,” Harper said. “Obviously to put up 28 to nine. That’s a really good job for them. They stayed with it, didn’t get sloppy despite the score.”
Tennessee draws No. 12 Toledo in the round of 32 on Monday. Another game in Thompson-Boling arena against a hot team will prove to be a good test for the Lady Vols.
“I’ve looked at it sparingly,” Harper said of their next matchup. “I really try to stay locked in on game one. But I’ve talked to our staff and we did a few things earlier this week that could translate to these two teams. Without our players knowing it. Just some drills here and there.”
