Three Lady Vols garner All-SEC awards
Tennessee’s “big three” earned All-SEC awards Tuesday after an up-and-down regular season.
GAINESVILLE, FL - JANUARY 26, 2017 - Diamond DeShields #11 of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers during the game between the Tennessee Lady Volunteers and the Florida Gators in Gainesville, FL. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Lady Vols Diamond DeShields, Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared were all named to All-SEC teams on Tuesday. DeShields garnered First Team All-SEC awards while Russell and Nared were Second Team All-SEC selections.
The three All-SEC selections are a surprising turnaround after just one last year — All-Freshman selection Te’a Cooper.
Tennessee redshirt junior DeShields was fourth in the conference with 17.3 points per game this season, adding 6.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game to her season averages. She’s scored 20 or more points on 10 separate occasions this season, including a season-high 34 points in a double-overtime loss to Georgia three weeks ago.
Russell, a redshirt junior, was ninth in the conference with 16.3 points per game. She was also fourth in the conference with 9.4 rebounds per game, setting a career high with 17 in the Lady Vols’ double-overtime loss to Georgia. Russell had 16 double-doubles in the regular season to increase her career total for 27, 10th in Tennessee history.
Nared almost doubled her scoring output during her junior campaign, jumping from 8.3 points per game last season to 15.6 during the 2016-17 regular season. Nared also averaged 6.7 rebounds per game and shot 88 percent from the free throw line. Her 30 points in the Lady Vols’ 82-64 upset of No. 3 Mississippi State were a career high.
No. 5 seed Tennessee (19-10, 10-6 SEC) plays the winner of No. 12 seed Alabama (17-12, 5-11 SEC) and No. 13 Vanderbilt (14-15, 4-12 SEC) in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday.
Edited by David Bradford
Featured image by Donald Page, courtesy of Tennessee Athletics
Nathan is a junior at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He spends most of his free time eating meaningless foods and watching sports. If you wish to contact Nathan, you can email him at wodom3@vols.utk.edu or find him on Twitter, @NathanOdom11.
