Strong second half lifts Tennessee over Dayton
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s been an upand-down season for Tennessee, so it figured the Lady Vols would start their NCAA Tournament run in a similar fashion.
Diamond DeShields scored 24 points to lead fifth-seeded Tennessee to a 66-57 first round victory over Dayton on Saturday.
The Lady Vols (20-11) used a strong second half to pull away from the 12th-seeded Flyers (22-10), shooting 52 percent after halftime to earn the victory. DeShields and Mercedes Russell wouldn’t let the Flyers mount a comeback. They scored 23 of Tennessee’s 37 points in the second half to lead the way.
For DeShields, the daughter of former baseball star DeLino DeShields, she said the second half play came from what she learned from watching her father and brother play ball.
“When you’re on the big stage, you can’t shy away from that,” said DeShields, who made 8-of-14 shots.
Tennessee shot 70 percent in the third, with DeShields getting two jumpers 26 seconds apart that gave the Lady Vols a 46-41 lead with 4:09 left. Dayton never got any closer the rest of the way.
“You got to credit her,” Dayton coach Shauna Green said. “I thought our defense was good, and we contested (those shots) the way we wanted to contest it. She rises up high, and she made plays.”
Dayton started the game miserably. After getting two free throws in the opening 14 seconds to take an early lead, the Flyers made just one of their first 16 shots. That enabled the Lady Vols to take an 18-4 lead after a Schaquilla Nunn layup with 1:33 left in the opening quarter.
But that’s when Tennessee went into a cold streak of its own. The Lady Vols made just 4-of-16 shots in the second quarter. The Flyers went on a 9-2 run midway through the period, with Jordan Wilmoth’s 3-pointer cutting Tennessee’s lead to just 25-22 with 2:21 remaining in the half. They continued chipping away from there, with Lauren Cannatelli’s free throws with 16 seconds left tying the game at 29.
Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said her team has had moments this season where the team has checked out mentally in games. However, that wasn’t the case Saturday.
“I was just pleased with how they played and how they finished the game,” she said.