With injured players on the bench and the allotted forty minutes looming on the scoreboard for each game, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers struggled up and down the court time after time.
While the team pulled out an 82-73 win over Florida at the 2013 Women’s SEC Tournament in Duluth, Ga., personal records and team history weren’t enough to put the team over the hump against conference-newcomer Texas A&M in the semifinals.
Head coach Holly Warlick said it was a matter of setting the pace and staying on top of the game but, while the Lady Vols were able to keep up with their fast-paced tempo against the Lady Gators, there was a lack of energy on the floor that lost them a chance to compete in the championship.
With a shortened bench due to injury, there’s only so much the team can do, but sophomore Cierra Burdick said it’s about focusing on the basics, specifically defense.
“From the offensive end, we’re just talented,” Burdick said. “We’ve got a bunch of people that can score the basketball and that’s one of our strong points as a team. If we just continue to share the basketball the way we are then I think we’ll be successful down the line. Just got to continue to pick it up on defense because offense isn’t our problem, it’s the defense.”
That became clear as the team made their way out on the floor for the semifinals.
With 40 minutes and 33 points from senior guard Taber Spani, the Lady Vols couldn’t claim a victory over the Texas A&M Aggies. Falling 66-62 to the Aggies, Spani said she’s looking ahead to the women’s NCAA Tournament and trying not to focus on Saturday’s loss.
That said, there’s still the pain and disappointment of a three-year winning streak coming to a close.
“This team is resilient. This (loss) hurts right now and it’s probably gonna hurt for a couple days, but we have about a week and a half or so (before the women’s NCAA tournament) and we’ve got to get ready,” Spani said. “Honestly, (Kamiko Williams and I) wanted to go four for four in SEC Championships, but NCAA Championships is why you play.”
Regarding her career-high performance, Spani said she was just playing the game, her last at the women’s SEC Tournament.
“I was just trying to do everything I could to keep us in the game and hopefully win the ‘W’,” Spani said.
Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair said both Spani and Williams deserved credit for putting forth a senior effort. For Blair, the Lady Vols are more than just any team.
“Tennessee, they’re not just a team, they’re an institution on what they’ve meant to this game,” he said. “All the way back to 1977 when I met Pat Summitt for the first time … Holly’s done a tremendous job. They were hurting us with their dribble and kicks.”
As in their previous game earlier that week, the Lady Vols struggled the most on the defensive end of the ball. Warlick said Texas A&M was persistent, continually hitting big shots, with no answer from Tennessee.
“It all boiled down to us getting stops and we couldn’t get a stop,” she said.
While the team held a double-digit lead early in the second half, it wasn’t long before the Aggies jumped back in the game.
“You’re up 10 and we got comfortable, we just got comfortable,” Warlick said. “We’ve been preaching defense all year and rebounding and we couldn’t get a stop. They went nine of the last 11 possessions and they scored.”
While the first-year head coach was pleased that the team continually put themselves in a position to score, the deciding factor of the game came down to stops.
“We could not get a defensive stop,” she said. “I don’t care what we are, it boils down to you have to make a play and we didn’t make a play down the end.”
Warlick felt there were no excuses for the loss. For her, Texas A&M deserved the credit for the win.
“We need five people on the court and we need five people on the floor to get it done,” she said.
Defensively, it was a struggle to seemingly find an answer that wouldn’t come.
“We tried zone, we tried man, we tried switching, we tried everything we had,” she said. “We just couldn’t keep up.”
Tennessee now awaits word from the tournament committee on its seed for the NCAA Tournament and what bracket they will be in.
