Tennessee Lady Vols Score Second SEC Road Win of Year at Florida: 3 Takeaways
The Tennessee Lady Vols beat the Florida Gators on the road 84-75 Thursday. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.
Holly Warlick’s team made sure to take advantage of its easy schedule the past two games, and the Tennessee Lady Vols improved to 13-7 and 4-3 in the SEC by beating the Florida Gators in Gainesville Thursday night.
The Lady Vols never trailed and built a 17-point lead in the first quarter. They took a 48-34 lead into halftime, and although the Gators cut it closer in the third and fourth quarters, they never seriously threatened.
With the win, Tennessee moves to 2-2 on the road in the SEC this year and 4-5 overall on the road.
Having played Vanderbilt and Florida, they got the easy games out of their system. Now, the gauntlet really begins as they have to face the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road next.
However, before looking ahead, here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ victory over the Florida Gators.
1. Diamond DeShields shoulders a huge load.
This is not surprising, but she did it again on Thursday night. Holly Warlick’s refusal to run a deep bench put a lot of pressure on on DeShields to step things up against a Florida team that had all of a sudden learned how to play defense the last two games.
DeShields did just that and single-handedly made the Gators look like the Gators’ defense before the last two games, scoring 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting. She added five rebounds, three steals, and three assists.
2. Mercedes Russell struggles with consistent physical play.
On this night, while Diamond DeShields was the star, Mercedes Russell had a quiet 14 points on 4-for-8 shooting. However, she only had five rebounds and turned the ball over three times.
Meanwhile, on the other end, Ronni Williams dominated Russell in the post, going for 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting the ball. At the same time, Haley Lorenzen had her way under the basket with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and even off the bench, Tyshara Fleming dominated with a double-double, going for 13 points and 10 rebounds. Simply put, Russell got abused. But she fortunately had help on this night from DeShields and one other factor.
3. Perimeter defense was dominant.
While the Tennessee Lady Vols were dominated inside, they uncharacteristically dominated on the perimeter. Florida was held to 1-of-10 shooting from the three-point line, and their guards combined to go 7-for-30 from the field. In fact, without Dyandria Anderson, they went 3-for-25.
But it wasn’t just efficient perimeter defense. The Lady Vols created chaos as well. They forced 17 turnovers on the night, and Anderson’s efficient shooting wasn’t without cost, as she had six turnovers alone. Tennessee was aggressive all night, and even as Florida cut the lead down, that defense was there to keep them from making too much of a splash.
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