No. 1 Irish surge past Lady Vols in 2nd half
KNOXVILLE — There has been plenty of reason for everyone around the Tennessee women’s basketball program — players, coaches, fans — to be frustrated about the current state of affairs.
Thursday night’s game wouldn’t be very high on that list — even though it was a loss.
The Lady Volunteers endured their sixth straight defeat, tying a program high set back in 1970, 77-62 to top-ranked Notre Dame in front of 9,154 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee (12-7) will jump back into Southeastern Conference play Sunday at home against LSU.
Tennessee was led by Zaay Green’s 19 points. She added eight rebounds and five assists. Evina Westbrook had 16 points and Cheridene Green hauled in 11 rebounds, her sixth double-figure rebounding performance and fifth in the last six games.
Senior guard Meme Jackson missed Thursday’s game with an ankle injury sustained against Arkansas and is still considered “day to day.”
The Lady Vols played as well as they have all season in the first half Thursday, building an eight-point advantage and holding a 34-31 lead at the break. A big cause of that lead was limiting mistakes: They average 16.8 turnovers per game but had three in the first half. They didn’t shoot the ball particularly well at any point Thursday, but the limited turnovers led to more opportunities.
That changed in the third quarter. Tennessee had seven turnovers, which led to 12 Notre Dame points, and missed 11 of 16 shots, which allowed for more opportunities for the Fighting Irish to get out in transition. Notre Dame (19-1) also took 16 shots in the third quarter; 13 were in the paint. The others were 3-point attempts by All-American Arike Ogunbowale, who made two of her three tries from long range.
She had 28 points in the game, with 24 coming in the second half and 16 in the third quarter alone.
“I thought in the third quarter she was attacking the basket more,” Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said of Ogunbowale. “We’d miss shots, they’d rebound and get the fast break going. We were really concerned with that; if not the best, she’s one of the best players in the country and we held her in check, but she figured out how to get points and we have to be mindful of that.”
The Notre Dame defense fueled 9-0 and 11-2 runs and gave the Irish a 55-46 lead at the end of the period.
“A great team like Notre Dame is going to come out punching and swinging after halftime, and we have to be ready for that,” Westbrook said. “We have to bounce back and get stops when they went on their run, but we weren’t able to stop one of their top players, and that was the game plan.”
The visitors’ lead peaked at 21 on a three-point play by Ogunbowale with 1:19 to play.
Jackie Young had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the first Notre Dame player to have a triple-double since Lindsay Allen had one against UT-Chattanooga on Dec. 27, 2016. Jessica Shepard and Brianna Turner each scored 13 points and had 11 and eight rebounds, respectively, helping Notre Dame hold a 43-41 rebounding advantage.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Warlick said. “The first two quarters were great; I didn’t want to go in at halftime. The beginning of the third quarter hurt us.
“I look down and see 11 turnovers. That’s a lot but not as much as we’ve had. We had a lot in the third quarter and they capitalized. I’m disappointed in the outcome, but the kids didn’t have anything in the tank, and that’s a great step for us in the process at this time.”