Three seniors were honored before the No. 6 Lady Vols’ contest with in-state rival Vanderbilt.
With Isabelle Harrison out for the season with a torn ACL, that left only Ariel Massengale and Cierra Burdick in the lineup for Tennessee.
The duo made the most of senior night in Thompson-Boling Arena, as they combined for 38 points to lead the Lady Vols to a 79-49 rout of the Commodores in Tennessee’s regular season finale.
“I wish every night was senior night,” head coach Holly Warlick said. “We just did some great things, and it was a great team effort. We played hard, and we were tough down the stretch … I’m really proud of the effort of the whole team.”
Massengale opened the game with a three from the left wing, and never slowed down, scoring her team’s first 11 points of the contest on her way to 26 total points.
The senior tied a school record for triples, set by former Lady Vol Meighan Simmons, by hitting 8-of-11 shots from behind the 3-point line, passing her career high of six.
“I just wanted to have a good last showing here in Thompson-Boling Arena,” Massengale said. “And the first time I went down, I kinda started feeling a little bit … I had a pretty decent shoot-around, it was nothing spectacular so I had no idea this was gonna happen.”
Tennessee (25-4, 15-1 SEC) took a 39-24 lead into the half behind 27 combined points from Massengale and Burdick, then used a 20-4 run, with Andraya Carter’s second 3-point shot of the game giving Tennessee a 64-36 advantage, breaking the game open.
While Massengale led the team in points, Burdick made her presence felt in other areas. The senior grabbed six rebounds and dished out seven assists to go with her 12 points while shooting 6-of-13 from the field, and looking past the emotions of senior night.
“Cierra said she was going to cry (before the game),” Massengale said. “She is emotional, so I was like, ‘I am going to let you handle that, I am going to be strong through all of this.’”
As a whole, Tennessee shot better than 47 percent from the field, including 54 percent from the behind the 3-point line, as the Lady Vols shot 12-of-22 from deep.
Defensively, the Lady Vols held Vanderbilt (14-15, 5-11) to its second lowest scoring output of the season, holding the Commodores to just 9 percent from beyond the arc, as Vanderbilt came into the game shooting just over 32 percent from 3-point range.
The absence of Harrison showed, however, as Tennessee allowed 32 Commodore points in the paint. Opposing teams have now recorded at least 30 points down low in three of the four games Harrison has missed.
Paris Kea was the only Vanderbilt player who was able to find any kind of offensive rhythm, scoring 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, while Marqu’es Webb scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.
While Harrison will miss the remainder of the season, Warlick found a way to get the senior on the court one final time in Thompson-Boling.
With four seconds left on the clock and the game no longer in doubt, Andraya Carter intentionally fouled Kea to allow Harrison to check in one final time. Carter found Harrison after the missed the free throw, allowing her to dribble out the remainder of the clock.
“I just thought it would nice for Izzy to hear the crowd one last time for her at home,” Warlick said. “That’s the only way we could do it … Just giving Izzy some great respect that I think she well deserves. She’s been a vital part of this program and this team.”
With South Carolina’s loss at Kentucky, Sunday’s win means the Lady Vols will finish the season as Co-SEC Champions with the Gamecocks, as both teams finished with a 15-1 SEC record.
