Alabama is known for its three-point shooting, but Tess Darby stole the show from beyond the arc on Sunday in an 89-76 win for the Lady Vols.
Darby had a great day for the Lady Vols. She finished with 16 shooting 4-7 from three.
“She’s easy to play with and she spreads the defense out,” head coach Kellie Harper said about Darby. “She knows her role. Her defense has really improved in what she’s been able to do. Her rebounding has improved. Really proud of her. If she shoots it in rhythm, we are all confident it’s going in.”
Rickea Jackson continued to show on Sunday why she is one of the top players in the SEC. She finished with 22 on 10-14 shooting off the bench.
Since SEC play started, Jackson has been playing on a different level for Tennessee.
“The difference is my mindset,” Jackson said. “My teammates just stay in my ear, talking to me, just being there for me. We said SEC play started a new season, so I feel like we all just been so focused and so locked in together. That made us really want to play for each other even more.”
While Jordan Horston was relatively quiet scoring, she made her presence felt in other ways. She finished with nine points and nine assists.
Where Horston continues to make her presence felt is on the defensive end. She had a steal and a block assist in the stat sheet, but she vocally leads the Lady Vols on the court.
“Her defense is critical to our team cause of her size,” Harper said. “During that second half when we weren’t getting a lot of stops she was the one I kept going to to try and rally the troops, to try to get her to talk through what we needed to be doing to get stops, to find a little bit more urgency. I think they listened to her.”
Tennessee didn’t have any trouble scoring on the Crimson Tide. The Lady Vols shot 54% as a team, and 29% from three. Tennessee finished with 26 assists on 36 made baskets.
The offense today is what Harper hopes to see every time the Lady Vols take the court.
“You want to see ball movement, you want to see sharing the basketball,” Harper said. “You want to get players in position for them to be successful. One thing I liked today, and it was small, but our players had a really good understanding of what we were trying to do.”
Alabama came into Sunday leading the SEC in almost every three-point category. Against the Lady Vols, they couldn’t get any momentum from beyond the arc.
Tennessee held the Crimson Tide to 6-21 from three.
The Lady Vols blew the game open in the second quarter behind Jackson’s 12 points and Darby’s nine. Tennessee held Alabama to just 11 points on just 26.7% shooting in the second.
Tennessee’s defense has been a question mark for most of the year, but it shined in the second quarter.
“It gave us that momentum,” Jordan Walker said about the second quarter. “I really think it is a testament to how far our defense has come. We’ve been working on it a lot, every single day we’re working on it… We know that’s what’s going to win us games.”
Jillian Hollingshead had a career day on Sunday. She finished the game with 15 points, seven boards, and three assists.
Hollingshead has shown improvement from game to game, and it all came together on Sunday.
“The way she played today was how we envisioned her playing,” Harper said. “I think she’s a dynamic player. She’s so skilled. She can step out on the floor, but we’re using her a lot on the block right now.”
The win on Sunday marks the 500th for Tennessee in Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee’s home-court advantage is undeniable. The Lady Vols average 7,511 in attendance. Tennessee pulled 8,214 fans for the New Year’s Day contest with Alabama.
Harper has both played, and coached in Thompson-Boling Arena. The history of Sunday’s win is not lost on her.
“It’s a lot of wins and a wonderful place to play,” Harper said. “I love playing here. I joked numerous times, I would love to petition to play all of our games here… A lot of good memories made here and a lot of legends have graced this floor. Just to be a part of something really elite, it’s something really special.”
