Following the win over Vandy on Sunday the Lady Vols arrived at Thomson Bowling Arena to battle the LSU Tigers. It was a battle. Make no mistake, this game was not "put away" until late, very late, in the second half. There were three major injuries; two for players of LSU and one for UT. Glory Johnson injured her left shoulder and we can hope and pray that it will be strong enough and rehabbed enough for the game Monday against Norte Dame. Taber is still riding the bench with a bone bruise, Kinna Strictland was out with a sprain to her knee and then late in the first half Glory got hurt. Yes, she came back for part of the second half, but she was in pain!! She played much of her time in the second half with one arm. Of course Glory with one arm is miles above some players with two. Glory missed out on her 8th double double in 9 games but we got the win. It was ugly. Bodies were flying everywhere and every possession was contested. Nikki Caldwell is a good coach, ( She played for Pat Summitt and was a Lady Vols Assistant Coach). She had her Tigers ready to battle but from the UT perspective, thankfully she and LSU came up a little short. The Lady Vols beat LSU 65-56. This was a big SEC win and means to a confidence booster going into Monday's match-up against the Mighty Skyler Diggins and N.D. Muffit McGraw will have her players ready and hyped to beat the Lady Vols as we travel to their house. N.D. has already beaten UConn this year but lost to Baylor. We don't play UConn anymore, but Baylor beat us. Here is hoping our ladies can get healthy before Monday.
Stats:
Meighan Simmons led Tennessee with 19 points and Cierra Burdick netted a career-high tying 15, for her highest scoring game in more than a month. An injured Glory Johnson played just 24 minutes and scored 10 points. Shekinna Stricklen missed the first game of her career with a right knee sprain.
Vicki Baugh pulled down a season-high 14 rebounds as the Lady Vols out rebounded LSU, 45-39.
The game was tied on 11 occasions before the Lady Vols ended the game on a 16-7 run over the final 6:22 to secure the win. Tennessee used a 10-0 run to take a 47-39 lead with 9:30 left in the second half. Back-to-back fast break lay-ups by Simmons and Johnson followed by a Cierra Burdick jumper put the Lady Vols ahead 45-39 with 10:34 left in the second half.
But LSU retaliated with its own 10-2 run to tie the game at 49 all with 6:40 left in regulation. Burdick ended that spurt with a jump shot to regain a Lady Vols lead, 51-49 with 6:20 remaining. The lead moved to 56-51 thanks to late successful free-throw shooting. Tennessee had a stretch of making 7-of-8 foul shots late in the game after starting 6-of-15 from the charity stripe. ( I won't get started on my soap box about free throws!) Fast break lay-ups by Johnson and Ariel Massengale 19 seconds apart put Tennessee up 60-53 with 2:40 left in the game. Tennessee finished the game off with free throws in the final minutes to secure UT's 28th straight home SEC win.
LSU came into the game with the nation's second-best field goal percentage defense (30.3) and third in scoring defense (47.5). The Lady Tigers limited Tennessee to 37.5 from the floor. The Lady Vols defense was even more stiff in holding LSU to 34.4 from the floor. Each team held the other team below their scoring percentage for the year.
Points in the paint-LSU 19,UT 20. Points off turnovers-LSU 8,UT 14.
2nd chance points-LSU 9,UT 17. Fast break points-LSU 5,UT 12.
Bench points-LSU 17,UT 17. Score tied-11 times. Lead changed-6 times.
Last FG-LSU 2nd-01:27, UT 2nd-02:40.
Largest lead-LSU by 3 1st-18:13, UT by 9 2nd-00:35.
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