SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A team with orange colors is going to the Final Four.
Only this time, it’s not the Lady Vols.
The Syracuse Orange upended Tennessee 89-67 on Sunday night to advance to the Final Four for the first time in program history.
“I see how far (the Lady Vols) has come, how far they’ve progressed since we first started, through the month of January,” head coach Holly Warlick said. “You can’t do anything but learn from (the loss).”
The Lady Vols seemed lost going into the break at halftime. After trailing 22-20 after the first quarter, Syracuse outscored Tennessee 21-13 in the second quarter and jumped out to an early 41-35 lead after the first half.
The Orange relied heavily on the three-point shooting of Alexis Peterson and Brianna Butler. The deep-shooting duo were a combined 6-12 from three-point land after the first half of play, each netting three three-pointers.
Syracuse’s three-shooting slowed down a bit in the second half, but the Orange still made the Lady Vols pay for cramming the middle of the court. Syracuse ended up shooting 14-30 from beyond the arc in the game, its second highest total volume of triples all season.
Alexis Peterson led the charge with 29 points on 11-20 shooting, including 3-4 from three.
“Our defense just wasn’t as crisp as it was against Ohio State,” guard Diamond DeShields said. “We weren’t talking as much. We weren’t as connected. I think that allowed Alexis Peterson to get into a lot of the gaps, find her spots.
“It just wasn’t our day.”
Brianna Butler also hurt the Lady Vols from deep, knocking down 6-15 attempts and finishing with 18 points.
This was a major step up from the 8-32 three-point shooting performance the Orange had back in November when they lost to the Lady Vols 57-55 in Thompson Boling Arena.
“All of them were hitting three’s,” junior guard Andraya Carter, who played with a broken finger, said. “We knew they were a great deep shooting team, and they just hit a ton of them, and we didn’t have an answer for it.”
There were times the Lady Vols would attempt to answer back with three’s of their own. In the third quarter, trailing by nine, Diamond DeShields knocked down back-to-back three pointers to chip the Orange’s lead down to three with 3:06 left in the third quarter.
But Syracuse would stretch the lead back to seven within the next minute and took an eight point lead into the fourth quarter.
Early in the fourth, Te’a Cooper knocked down a three to help bring the Syracuse lead back down to four.
Alas, the Orange got hot from beyond the arc in the final quarter, hitting three quick three’s that forced the Lady Vols to spiral down and out for the final time.
“When they shoot the ball the way they do, their ability to move their zone around the way they can, they’re well-deserving of being where they’re going — to the Final Four,” Warlick said.
“We had a great run,” senior Bashaara Graves added. “Nobody really thought we’d be here in the Elite Eight, so I’m really proud of my team for making it this far. To go out like out like we did, it hurts a lot just because we looked like a team that didn’t know their identity like we did earlier on in the season.”
It was just a day where if the Lady Vols hit a shot, Syracuse would answer right back with a shot of its own.
An emotional roller-coaster season capped off with a heartbreaking loss.
“Just because you have Tennessee on your chest doesn’t mean you’re going to win these games,” Graves said. “People are not scared of the Tennessee name anymore, and it shouldn’t be like that. When we walk in the gym, it should be like it used to be.”
Graves finishes her career at UT third on the all-time rebounding list. Her five rebounds on Sunday helped boost her career total to 1,044 rebounds, one ahead of Sheila Frost. Graves also earned the Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American award on Monday.
The Lady Vols finish the season 22-14 overall and 8-8 in conference play, their worst season record-wise in program history.
“This season was just hard emotionally. It took a toll on everybody,” Carter said. “I think you take a step back, and then you just have to get back to work. You have to get back in the gym and work on your game and do team stuff and just regroup and be able to make those plays next year.”
Since taking over in the 2012-13 season, Warlick has seen her team fall in the Elite Eight three times and the Sweet 16 once.
The Lady Vols have not been to the Final Four since the 2007-08 season when they won the national championship over Stanford. The team’s eight-year drought of not reaching the Final Four is the longest stretch in program history.
