Tennessee’s 79-49 women’s basketball victory over Vanderbilt on Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena could hardly have been scripted better.

It was senior day and UT’s seniors stole the show while capturing a share of the SEC regular season title in front of 13,027 appreciative fans.

But in a lot of ways, it was simply a formality, because the Lady Vols are bent on ensuring that a thrashing of the Commodores does not turn out to be the pinnacle of their March.

For all the conference titles, wins, points and awards this senior class has earned over four seasons, its legacy could still be drastically altered by what occurs over the next four weeks, and that seems to be okay with Ariel Massengale, Cierra Burdick and UT coach Holly Warlick.

Warlick and Burdick stood on the court and took turns with the microphone as fans trickled out in the moments following the conclusion of Sunday’s contest.

“I promise we are not done,” Burdick said authoritatively. “We’re going to get to Tampa.”

Tampa is the site of this year’s Final Four, and by the conclusion of the NCAA Regionals on March 30, UT will either be making travel plans to the Sunshine State or it will be headed home to watch the proceedings on television for a seventh consecutive year.

Though the Lady Vols have lost their primary post player and senior leader Isabelle Harrison for the season because of an ACL tear, they figure to be a No. 2 seed at worst in the NCAA Tournament, and their confidence is not lacking.

“We talk a lot about the postseason and what we want to do and our goal is to get to the Final Four,” Warlick said in her postgame press conference. “You can say it, but do you believe it? And I think those young ladies believe it because they’ve put in the time and the work.”

Massengale, on the heels of a 26-point performance, said in what seemed to be a sarcastic tone that this year’s senior class could be one of the best to ever come through UT.

At the very least it’s a historic class because it’s the last one to play a season with Pat Summitt as its head coach.

To call it one of the school’s best ever is probably a stretch at this point.

But if this team becomes the one to snap the drought and earn Warlick her first Final Four appearance, it might not be a stretch come April.

And if that’s how it plays out, then a perfectly scripted senior night was just the preamble to one of the greatest months in recent UT sports history.

David Cobb is a senior in journalism and electronic media. Contact him at [email protected].