Lady Vols beat Hogs, advance to SEC Tournament Quarterfinals

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The Lady Vols’ bleak season just got a little brighter.

On the back of a strong defensive effort, Tennessee defeated Arkansas 68-51, placing them in a quarterfinals matchup with No. 15 Texas A&M in the SEC tournament.

Neither team shot particularly well, but the Lady Vols hopped on the Hogs early and never relinquished their lead. A Jaime Nared layup made the score 12-2 with four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

A three-pointer by Arkansas’ Jessica Jackson reduced the deficit to five, but freshmen Te’a Cooper scored on consecutive positions to stretch the Tennessee lead to ten after the first quarter.

The Razorbacks (12-18, 7-9) were a two-woman team the entire game. Jackson and Devin Cosper combined to score 55 percent of Arkansas’ points, but the rest of the team combined for just 26 points on 7-of-27 shooting from the field.

The second quarter was a balanced attack from the Lady Vols offense. Six different players contributed to the 20 Tennessee points, resulting in a 37-22 halftime lead. The Lady Vols maintained control of the game throughout the second half and never squandered their double-digit lead.

Tennessee (18-12, 8-8) was led by three double-digit scorers and its bench. Diamond DeShields led the Lady Vols with 15 points, while the Tennessee bench outscored the Arkansas bench 21-10.

The Lady Vols have now won consecutive games for the first time in a month, and followed their impressive regular-season finale with another dominating performance.

“Just a great effort. Really proud of our team,” head coach Holly Warlick said after the game. “I think we kind of proved that Georgia game wasn’t a fluke for us.”

The No. 7-seeded Tennessee team squad squares off against the No. 2 seed Texas A&M Aggies tomorrow. The two teams met Feb. 7 in College Station, with the Aggies edging the Lady Vols 76-71 in overtime. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. ET.

Edited by Nathan Odom

Featured image courtesy of majorvols