Junior guard Andraya Carter didn’t mince words.

She knew the Lady Vols had no one to blame but themselves for Sunday’s performance.

No. 4 Tennessee was undefeated entering its Sunday matinee game against No. 8 Texas, but was struggling early in the season. They were missing too many shots and were turning the ball over far too often.

It was only a matter of time before a good team took advantage of The Lady Vols’ offensive woes and Texas did just that in its 64-53 victory against Tennessee at Thompson-Boling arena in front of a crowd of 10,204.

“We were setting ourselves up for this,” Carter said. “Our games leading up to this we should have won by way more, we were winning by close margins the whole time but we were just more talented than those teams. We came up against a team that was equally as talented as us and they played together and they beat us.

“I think that it just shows why you can beat some teams not playing the way you’re supposed to, you can’t beat the top teams. It’s a lesson we needed to learn and hopefully we learn from it.”

Diamond DeShields led the Lady Vols with a game-high 24 points, but no other Tenessee player scored more than six points. Bashaara Graves, Tennessee’s leading scorer with 14.8 points per game, was limited to four points on 2-for-5 shooting.

Tennessee shot a cool 30 percent from the field. Without DeShields’ numbers (9-for-22), The Lady Vols were even worse, shooting 26 percent.

16 Tennessee turnovers led to 10 Texas points.

Texas entered halftime with a five-point lead and seized control early in the third quarter. The Longhorns stretched their lead to 10 at 36-26 with 7: 43 remaining in the third and held a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

The Lady Vols flirted with a comeback several times, but they never got within one-possession after Texas jumped out to a double-digit lead.

Tennessee was still within striking distance when DeShields drained a jumper while also drawing a foul with 3:15 to go in the game. Her ensuing free throw cut Texas’ lead to 56-50.

Carter hit a pair of free throws to bring Tennessee within four, but nine-straight missed shots ended any hopes of a comeback.

Texas drained several free throws in the final minutes to seal the victory.

“I think it is just more us,” Carter said. “We got to practice harder. We got to make some adjustments with our offense: get better ball movement, get better looks at the basket. Then really, it’s just about knocking down shots, especially from the guards.

“I think it’s more just us getting shots. We got to get good shots so we can hit them. We are just going to have to work on it.”

LaShann Higgs, whose previous season-high was 12 points, led Texas with 18 points. Her 14 first-half points and sharp-shooting from the perimeter stunted Tennessee’s early momentum and helped give the Longhorns a 29-24 lead at halftime.

DeShields opened the third quarter by hitting a layup to make the score 29-26, but the Lady Vols couldn’t get any closer from that point.

“We have a solid core of young ladies that can get the job done and for whatever reason we are not getting it done,” Warlick said. “But we will figure it out.”