Notre Dame rallies to defeat Tennessee
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Arike Ogunbowale scored 27 points, and No. 5 Notre Dame completed its largest-ever comeback to beat No. 6 Tennessee 84-70 on Thursday night.
The Irish (17-2) trailed by 23 points early in the second quarter but rallied with an aggressive defense that forced 28 Tennessee turnovers, 15 in the second half. The previous biggest deficit that the Irish had overcome in a victory was an 18-point hole against Duke in the Junkaroo Jam on Nov. 26, 2011.
A 12-0 run by the Irish coincided with a nearly three-minute scoreless skid by Tennessee (16-2) to give Notre Dame a 70-65 lead with 4:12 to play that it would not relinquish.
Marina Mabrey finished with 20 points, Jackie Young scored 18 and Jessica Shepard had 12 for Notre Dame. Meme Jackson had 18 points, Jaime Nared scored 14 and three players — Rennia Davis, Mercedes Russell and Evina Westbrook — each had 12 for Tennessee, which shot 57 percent to the Irish’s 48 percent. Tennessee also outrebounded the Irish 34-27, but its 28 turnovers were 16 more than Notre Dame.
The Lady Vols used runs of 10-0 and 11-0 in the first quarter while shooting 68.4 percent from the floor (13 of 19) to take a 2710 lead. Notre Dame hit just four of its first 17 shots and was outrebounded 14-5 in the quarter. Russell had six points despite sitting out the last four minutes after taking a hit in the nose.
Tennessee’s biggest lead was 37-14 with 7:03 remaining in the second quarter. But Notre Dame closed the period on a 13-2 run with eight points by Ogunbowale, who had 10 at halftime. The Lady Vols went scoreless in the final 5:33 and led 39-27 at the break.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Alexis Jennings scored a season-high 27 points and 10thranked South Carolina beat Vanderbilt despite the banged-up Gamecocks’ injury list growing longer.
The Gamecocks (15-3, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) again played without two-time SEC player of the year A’ja Wilson, who has a sprained right ankle, and minus her backup Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan, out with a bone bruise in her left knee.
Senior guard Lindsey Spann hit 5 of 7 3-pointers before hurting a knee with 7:16 left in the third quarter and going to the locker room. Then guard Tyasha Harris, the SEC’s assists leader, went down with 4:33 left in the third after hurting her right leg and having to be helped off the court. Spann returned for the fourth quarter, Harris didn’t return.
South Carolina, coming off an 86-70 loss on their own court to Tennessee, has not dropped back-to-back games since February 2013, and improved to 19-1 coming off a loss over the last six seasons.