Diamond DeShields injured in Lady Vols' loss to Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Tennessee first lost a player to a scary injury. The Lady Vols then lost an SEC women's basketball game.

Without leading scorer Diamond DeShields, who was carried off early, Tennessee fell to Alabama 65-57 Thursday night before a crowd of 2,221 at Coleman Coliseum.

Coco Knight scored 18 points to lead Alabama (16-10, 4-9 SEC), which now has won two in a row in the series after losing 42 consecutive games to the Lady Vols. The Crimson Tide outrebounded UT 53-38.

Mercedes Russell scored 17 points to lead Tennessee (16-10, 7-6). Schaquilla Nunn came off the bench to score 15 points and grab 15 rebounds.

Conversely, Jaime Nared, the Lady Vols' third-leading scorer, lapsed into early foul trouble and shot 1 for 12 from the floor. She finished with four points. With UT fouling at the end, Nared and Jordan Reynolds both fouled out.

DeShields was strapped to a board and taken off on a stretcher early in the first quarter.

The Lady Vols redshirt junior guard apparently took a blow to the head and neck while trying to retrieve a loose ball against the Crimson Tide. The play began with DeShields losing control of the basketball. The play continued up the floor before eventually being stopped with 5 minutes, 48 seconds left in the quarter and DeShields down on the court.

A Lady Vols official reported that DeShields was taken to local hospital for precautionary reasons. The SEC Network online broadcast reported that she was sitting up in the ambulance and talking.

"It was definitely a scary moment for us," Russell said.

UT coach Holly Warlick said DeShields had movement in all of her extremities.

"All indications are she'll be fine," Warlick said.

The Lady Vols reported on their Twitter account that DeShields was cleared to return home with the team on its charter flight Thursday night and would receive further evaluation on Friday.

Tennessee wasn't fine without DeShields, who was averaging 18 points per game.

"Her presence on the court is tough not to have," Russell said, "both on the offensive and defensive end."

Alabama wasn't distracted, however. Along with Knight, Hannah Cook scored 16 points.

"Prayers for Diamond (but) we couldn't let that affect us," Cook said. "We had to keep our intensity up. Our effort and intensity needed to be the same."

Nared picked up her second foul shortly after DeShields went down and went to the bench for the first half's duration. After returning, the junior forward missed all nine of her field goal attempts in the second half.

"The more she didn't make a shot, it sort of snowballed on her," Warlick said.

Nunn did her best to cover for DeShields' absence and Nared's struggles, scoring 11 of her points in the first half. She had to attend an employment law class on Wednesday and arrived via a 6 a.m. commercial flight to Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday morning.

Alabama parlayed its rebounding advantage into a 30-26 halftime lead. Quanetria Bolton's rebound basket capped a half in which the Crimson Tide outrebounded the Lady Vols 29-16 and outscored them in second-chance points 10-2. Last Sunday, Alabama was outrebounded by Florida by 20.

Although Alabama finished with just four more second-chance points than Tennessee (14-10), the rebounding factored into 11 more field goal attempts (71-60).

"Rebounding and defense, those two things we weren't very good at tonight consistently," Warlick said.

Scheduling note: ESPN has announced that Tennessee's regular-season finale at Mississippi State on Feb. 26 will start at 5 p.m. EST and be televised by ESPN2.