Alabama Women’s Basketball Matchup with Memphis
Tennessee stayed perfect on the 2021-22 season Wednesday night, dominating Tennessee Tech at Thompson-Boling Arena, 76-48.
In their first home game since their marquee win over Texas, the Lady Vols controlled the game throughout to earn their third straight double digit win.
Despite the lopsided victory, the Golden Eagles came out the gates strong. Tennessee led 18-17 at the end of the first quarter as Tennessee Tech made a pair of triples.
However, Tennessee Tech couldn’t handle Tennessee’s size inside. As always, Tamari Key was a force inside recording 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Alexus Dye was the star of the night. The Troy transfer was the best player on the court, scoring a game high 20 points while grabbing nine rebounds.
Dye dominated on the elbow and scored the final eight points of the second quarter for the Lady Vols.
“Really, they were just leaving me open,” Dye said. “They were just leaving me open and I know they really couldn’t guard me.”
The Lady Vols took a comfortable eight-point lead into halftime, but opened things up immediately at the offset of the second half. Tennessee Tech scored just five points and made only one field goal in the third quarter. During that time, Tennessee opened up an insurmountable 53-35 win.
“Our guards in the first half, I thought were relying on help defense too much,” Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said postgame. “We were over helping and not getting deflections and they were able to find open players. In the second half we did a much better job of guarding one on one, taking away help or the need for help. I thought that was the difference.”
Tennessee Tech totaled 13 points in the fourth quarter, but even then the Golden Eagles scored just one more point in the second half than they did in the first quarter.
The lopsided win saw Tennessee make the most three-pointers they had in a game all season with the second highest three-point shooting percentage of the season.
Tess Darby was Tennessee’s most potent outside scorer, making four-of-six three-point attempts. The Lady Vols made five-of-15 attempts on the game.
Tennessee returns to the court Sunday when they travel to Blacksburg, Virginia to face Virginia Tech. The Lady Vols and Hokies will tip-off at 2 p.m. ET.
