KNOXVILLE—Coming off consecutive losses to No. 3 Baylor and No. 1 Stanford, Tennessee avoided losing three straight games for the first time since 1986. The Lady Vols easily handled an outmatched Davidson team by a 75-40 margin and tonight’s victory marked the fourth win by at least 35 points this year for Tennessee.

Bashaara Graves (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Cierra Burdick (10 points, 10 rebounds) each tallied double-doubles for Warlick’s squad as Davidson struggled to contain the Lady Vols in the paint. Isabelle Harrison continued her strong sophomore campaign (she’s averaging 10.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game) by grabbing nine boards to go with 13 points. The Lady Vols out-rebounded the Wildcats by 22 and shot a warm 45.7% from the floor while holding Davidson to just 32.7% shooting.

Graves gets fouled driving to the bucket. Photo by Reed Carringer

Davidson was led by Sophia Aleksandravicius (12 points, 7 rebounds) and Laura Murray (11 points). The Wildcats committed 24 turnovers against Tennessee’s pesky defense, and shot just 14.3% from beyond the arc.

After two games which saw the Lady Vols dominated in many aspects, head coach Holly Warlick was pleased with her team’s effort and intensity.

“We were aggressive. We didn’t back up. We wanted to dictate them. We wanted them to not be able to run their sets. I thought in the Stanford game they did what they wanted to do so I wanted us to be aggressive, be physical and just play hard. I thought we got a lot of deflections. We got a lot of steals. We created 24 turnovers. When you’re aggressive with the ball that allows people on the help side to do things that normally they can’t do.”

Davidson head coach Michele Savage was quick to agree with Warlick’s assessment of the Lady Vols.

The Davidson defense draws a charge against Cierra Burdick.
Photo by Reed Carringer

“They’re a tough team. They’re very aggressive defensively. They scored a lot off our turnovers and in transition. It’s very difficult to combat that when you have to work for everything in the half court. They’re a very good team.”

In fact, Tennessee so played so well that Warlick cracked a rare smile. Isabelle Harrison, for one, was relieved, “As soon as I saw the smile on her face, I felt like I could finally relax. She’s given so much for us to get to this point, and we just have to go out there and play for her.”

If the Lady Vols continue to play with the same aggressiveness and intensity, they are sure to see many more smiles from coach Warlick this year.

Tennessee returns to the court Sunday at 1 p.m. when they take on Rutgers (8-3). SportsSouth will televise the action.

To view of full gallery of game pictures click here.