WOMENS BASKETBALL

Lady Vols' Diamond DeShields, Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared part of SEC awards

Dan Fleser
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee
Tennessee guard Diamond DeShields was named first-team All-SEC by the league coaches on Tuesday

Diamond DeShields, Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared have collaborated on quite a women's basketball production for Tennessee this season. However, DeShields said the performance hasn't been overly staged.

"It's been really pretty natural," she said. "I can't point to one specific thing that epitomizes our chemistry."

The SEC coaches were impressed enough to recognize the UT power trio in their annual all-conference awards, which were announced Tuesday in advance of the SEC tournament. DeShields was named first-team All-SEC while Russell and Nared made the second team. Tennessee didn't put a player on either team last season.

Tennessee (19-10), which was named the NCAA team of the week, opens tournament play at approximately 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C., against the winner of Wednesday's Alabama-Vanderbilt game. The Lady Vols are the No. 5 seed, despite having beaten the four teams seeded ahead of them (South Carolina, Mississippi State, Missouri and Kentucky).

Tennessee's Mercedes Russell was named second-team All-SEC by the coaches

Tennessee's seeding might have impacted the placement of its three honorees on the All-SEC teams. Top seed South Carolina and No. 4 Kentucky were the only teams to put two players on the first team.

South Carolina's A'ja Wilson was named player of the year for the second consecutive year. Missouri's Robin Pingeton, who directed the Tigers to the No. 3 seed, was named coach of the year. LSU's Raigyne Moncrief, a second-team honoree, was named the defensive player of the year.

Florida's Delicia Washington and Missouri's Amber Smith were named co-freshmen of the year. Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan received the sixth woman honor, and Auburn's Katie Frerking was named scholar-athlete of the year.

Collectively, DeShields, Russell and Nared have combined to score 63.9 percent of Tennessee's 2,152 points this season. The percentage rises to 70 percent in conference play. They comprise Tennessee's highest scoring trio since Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings and Semeka Randall in 1997-98. The current three average more than 15 points per game. UT and Northern Illinois are the only Division I schools with three players scoring 15 points a game on average.

Tennessee's Jaime Nared (31) was named second team All-SEC by the league coaches.

Individually, DeShields is fourth in the conference in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game, four points better than last season's per-game average. The 6-foot-1 redshirt junior guard's rebounding average has improved (6.6-5.4) along with her field goal shooting percentage (42.8-39.1).

Russell, who's averaging 16.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, has been Tennessee's most consistent player. The 6-foot-6 redshirt junior center scored in double figures for 21 consecutive games and has 17 double-doubles for points and rebounds.

Nared has been the most improved. The 6-2 junior forward's 15.6 points-per-game scoring average is nearly double last season's 8.3. Her field goal shooting percentage is markedly better (42.4-34.2) and her rebounding average is up by two per game (6.7-4.8).

"I think we have kind of just been able to watch each other play and have seen the extra work that we've put in," DeShields said Monday night on the WNML radio show "Lady Vol Illustrated." "It's allowed us to trust one another a bit more."

Three of DeShields' game-high six assists in Sunday's 82-64 victory at Mississippi State came on jumpers by Nared, who scored a career-high 30 points.

"Jaime has been working on her outside shot," DeShields said. "So I went to her, like, three times last night off penetrating and kick because I trust she'll put the ball in the hoop."

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