Lady Vols MVP of the week: Diamond DeShields

Over a week ago, the Tennessee Lady Vols upset the No. 6 team in the country, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 71-69. It was a humongous win for the Lady Vols and much needed for a program going through a rough patch. Many thought the win could propel the Tennessee to a strong finish to the second half of the season, but the orange and white proceeded to go on the road and lose to a less-than-stellar Auburn team.

With the Auburn debacle in the rearview mirror, the Lady Vols have now won two games in a row. Tennessee blew the doors off of Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon in Thompson-Boling Arena, defeating the Commodores 91-63. The Lady Vols followed up the win over Vandy with an 84-75 road victory over a feisty Florida team.

The conductor behind the back-to-back Lady Vol victories? All-SEC, junior guard Diamond DeShields.

DeShields has been instrumental to the Lady Vols’ recent success. As the glue to a depleted Tennessee team, the Lady Vols go as DeShields goes.

The Lady Vols’ 91-point output against Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon was the most points scored during conference play, in three seasons for Tennessee. Who led the offensive outburst against the Commodores? None other than Diamond DeShields herself. DeShields led the way with 23 points, while adding four rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

The 23-point outburst against the Dores was Deshields’ fifth game of the year in which she scored 20 points or more in a game. Over the course of her career, it was the 29th time she surpassed the 20 point mark in a game.

Heading into Thursday night’s game with the Gators, DeShields was tied for third in the SEC in scoring, averaging 16.9 points per game. Nothing changed come tipoff as DeShields continued to roll. Against Florida, she dropped 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting, while adding five rebounds, three assists and three steals. With the 27-point performance against Florida, DeShields has now scored 20 or more points in five of the previous eight games.

Diamond DeShields is just 171 points away from hitting the 1,000 point milestone of her Tennessee career, and with the way she is playing, she’ll surpass that mark with ease. DeShields was without a doubt the Lady Vols’ MVP of the week, and she’s likely the team’s MVP of the 2016-17 season. In order for the Lady Vols to finish the season off on a positive note, and make a run in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments, DeShields is going to have to continue to play at the elite level.

Edited by David Bradford

Featured image by Donald Page, courtesy of Tennessee Athletics