Though it won’t show up in the box score, Bashaara Graves made one of the biggest plays of the game for the Lady Vols.
Trailing, 45-44, with less than six minutes to go in the game, Cierra Burdick came up short on a jump shot that looked to be going out of bounds. Graves managed to get her hands on the ball and flip it to a tightly guarded Isabelle Harrison under the basket, who finished the layup despite being fouled.
Harrison hit the free throw to give Tennessee the two point lead, and the No. 5 Lady Vols never relinquished it, going on to defeat No. 22 Georgia 59-51 in Thompson-Boling Arena.
“It was a great win for us,” head coach Holly Warlick said. “We’ll take it.”
After some early offensive struggles, the Lady Vols appeared to hit their stride as they closed the first half on a 16-3 run, capped off by a Jordan Reynolds jumper as time expired. Those struggles returned, however, as the second half began.
Tennessee (17-3, 7-0) suffered a scoring drought of over eight minutes to start the second period, and saw their five point lead become a five point deficit. It took a tip in from Cierra Burdick to get the Lady Vols’ offense back on track.
While Georgia (17-4, 5-3) managed a 10-0 during the scoring drought, the Lady Bulldogs had an opportunity to firmly take control of the game and let it slip through their fingers.
“What was frustrating in that run is that we took two or three really bad shots,” Georgia coach Andy Landers said. “And we wasted two or three possessions. That was frustrating. Somebody would come down and jack a shot, so that’s frustrating.”
Both teams struggled to score at times, and when they did score, the points didn’t come from either team’s usual contributors. Seniors Burdick, Harrison and Ariel Massengale, three of the team’s leading scorers failed to score in the first half. Instead it was sophomore guard Jordan Reynolds who stepped up.
Reynolds scored 11 of her career high 15 points in the first half and hit big shots when Tennessee was struggling to find offense.
“My coaches have been on me lately because I just hadn’t been in the game, my head hasn’t been in it,” Reynolds said. “So I thought today would be a great game to bounce back, so I just had the mentality that I should have been having all season long.”
For Georgia, the offense came from forward MacKenzie Engram. Averaging a little more than seven points coming into the game, Engram got off to a quick start. The freshman scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half, including her team’s first 10 of the game.
Though they didn’t score in the first half, the seniors hit big shots when her team needed her the most. Massengale had 10 second half points, including a personal 5-0 run to give Tennessee the lead midway through the second half.
Despite playing most of the second half with three fouls, Harrison also managed to find her offense, finishing the game with nine points to go along with nine total rebounds.
On a day where the starter’s struggled, Tennessee’s bench was an important asset. The Lady Vols got 25 points off their bench, many of them coming in crucial situations and providing a much needed spark.
“Well it was huge,” Warlick said. “I mean it kept us in the game the first half. Our bench kept us in the game the first half. And we keep preaching to them, ‘Your time is coming. It’s coming.’ And today (was) their time, they stepped up and did some big things so and it’s just gonna continue.”
