Lady Vols veterans lead way in opener
KNOXVILLE — On a day when the Tennessee women’s basketball team’s highly touted freshman class made its debut, a pair of seniors led the way for the Lady Volunteers.
Mercedes Russell scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds Sunday as No. 14 Tennessee opened its season with an 87-49 blowout of East Tennessee State University.
This marked the first regular-season performance of a Tennessee freshman class that was ranked first in the nation by multiple recruiting services. The four freshmen played what was largely a supporting role as the Lady Vols relied more on the senior duo of Russell and Jaime Nared, who had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
“They’re our leaders,” Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said. “They’re expected to have big performances. Both of them were solid, vocal, active, rebounded when they needed to, scored when they needed to. They’re seasoned vets, and we’re going to rely on them a lot.”
Russell and Nared delivered double-doubles while playing only 22 minutes each. Anastasia Hayes led the Tennessee freshmen with 17 points, though she also had eight turnovers.
The four freshmen displayed plenty of potential but also showed they must work on taking better care of the ball. Hayes, Rennia Davis, Kasiyahna Kushkituah and Evina Westbrook combined for 33 points and 16 of the Lady Vols’ 24 turnovers. Westbrook had six points, six assists and five rebounds, while Davis had six points and eight rebounds and Kushkituah had four points and four rebounds.
Tennessee pulled ahead for good by making an early 17-0 run with ETSU going scoreless for a stretch of 7 minutes, 54 seconds.
“That’s just what we’re capable of, how we’re capable of playing,” Nared said. “I don’t think we should take any teams lightly.”
ETSU (1-1) couldn’t recover from the loss of All-Southern Conference guard Tianna Tarter, who played just six minutes before an injury knocked her out for the remainder of the game. ETSU coach Brittney Ezell said Tarter took an elbow to the face and had six stitches and a broken nose.
Tarter averaged 19.8 points last season and 17 points two years ago.
“We’ll get her checked out,” Ezell said. “Tianna had a concussion two years ago, so I want to make sure and err on the side of caution with her. … We need her to be healthy and need her to be fully recovered. If I have to hold her out another game, I’m not opposed to that.”
This game made Tarter’s importance to the Buccaneers all the more apparent. Tarter had collected 14 points, 11 assists and only one turnover Friday in a season-opening 87-77 victory over Cincinnati. Without her in the lineup for most of the game Sunday, ETSU had 21 turnovers and 12 assists while shooting just 24.7 percent from the floor.