Tennessee hiring UCF’s White as athletic director
KNOXVILLE — Evina Westbrook couldn’t have hoped for a better script in her return to Rocky Top.
The University of Connecticut redshirt junior guard, who transferred from Tennessee two years ago, connected on back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to spark the No. 3 Huskies to a 67-61 victory over the No. 25 Lady Volunteers on Thursday night.
Westbrook’s two 3-pointers early in the fourth at Thompson-Boling Arena turned a tie game into a UConn lead that got as large as nine points. The Huskies never surrendered the advantage on the way to their ninth win in as many games this season.
“I pulled Evina aside during the shootaround (early in the day),” said Huskies coach Geno Auriemma. “I told her there’s a difference between playing with a lot of emotion and not letting emotion get in the way. Those shots that she made were pretty important.”
Said Westbrook: “I leaned on my teammates in this game. I didn’t listen to the boos or the fans yelling ‘traitor’ I knew they had my back. I just played like myself. I was more anxious than anything else. After it was over, the first thing out of my mouth was how glad I am it was over.”
Freshman Paige Bueckers added nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Huskies. After rolling her right ankle with just more than three minutes left, Bueckers left the court for a minute to get taped up. She returned and hit a huge 3-pointer from the wing with 28 seconds left that gave the Huskies a 66-61 lead and sealed the win.
Bueckers’ shot was a “coming of age” moment, Auriemma said.
“That was a rough first outing for Paige in a tough environment,” Auriemma said. “She’s a pass-first player. She reminds me of that every day.
“If she ever becomes a more selfish player, we’re going to be a better team.”
It was a classic meeting in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Revival Series during We Back Pat Week, which honors legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who died in 2016. The Lady Volunteers (9-3) all wore “Summitt” on the back of their jerseys for the third time.
This was UConn’s first trip to Tennessee since 2006.
Westbrook’s pressure shots turned a tie game into a sixpoint lead for UConn early in the fourth quarter. She ignited a run that allowed the Huskies to lead 61-52. The spurt coincided with a drought of more than two minutes for the Lady Vols, who rallied to within 63-61 before Bueckers shot off a pass from Westbrook.
Christyn Williams led UConn with 20 points. Westbrook added 15 and Aubrey Griffin scored 10.
Rae Burrell scored 14 of her 18 points in the first half to lead Tennessee. Rennia Davis scored 11 and Tamari Key and Marta Suarez each had 10 points.
An announced gathering of 3,553 was the largest to see a women’s basketball game anywhere in the country this season. The previous high was 3,500 at South Carolina (five times).
“Connecticut’s a really good basketball team,” Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. “We thought we could have won the game. When you can’t pull those off, it stings.”
Davis had just two points in the first half. Four straight third-quarter points gave Tennessee a lead it maintained through the period, and the Vols were up 49-45 heading into the final quarter.
Burrell hit a couple 3s in the first quarter and had 14 points at halftime to lead Tennessee to a 35-34 edge at the break. Key had eight points to help the cause.
Harper and Auriemma showed just how seriously they value this meeting of legendary programs and the charities it benefits.
Each of the coaches donated $10,000 that will be shared between the Pat Summitt Foundation, which educates the public and conducts research for Alzheimer’s disease, and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, which is in Knoxville.
Auriemma is spending this season chasing Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer for the all-time most wins in women’s college basketball. VanDerveer entered Thursday night with 1,105 victories, while Auriemma now has 1,100.