Tennessee Lady Vols play through offensive struggles to win over Kentucky
Dan FleserJaime Nared's stat line summed up not only her performance but also Tennessee's on Sunday.
The Lady Vols senior forward managed to score 11 points despite shooting 2-for-11 from the floor. Likewise, UT persevered through its offensive struggles and a season-low point total for a 63-49 SEC women's basketball victory over Kentucky before a crowd of 8,921 at Rupp Arena.
Tennessee coach Holly Warlick offered a full accounting of both Nared's play and UT's.
"Jaime Nared came out of the game and I said 'great game,' " Warlick said. "I didn't even know she was 2 for 11. I had no idea.
"I saw her being a great leader. I saw her rebound. She had I don't know how many assists. She had steals."
Nared also managed a double-double by gathering 10 rebounds. She had six assists and two steals. She reached double-figure scoring primarily by converting 7 of 8 free throw attempts.
Evina Westbrook's 17 points led No. 7 Tennessee (13-0, 1-0 SEC). Mercedes Russell scored 16.
Nared's rebounds contributed to 50-31 advantage that yielded 13 second-chance points. The steals were part of a defensive effort that held Kentucky (8-7, 0-1) to 30.3 percent field goal shooting. The Wildcats were worse from long range, making just five of 25 3-point attempts.
The Lady Vols relied primarily on a zone alignment to deny drives by Kentucky's two primary scoring threats: guards Maci Morris and Taylor Murray. Despite getting two stitches above her left eye after being hit accidentally by Nared in the first quarter, Morris scored a game-high 18 points. Murray had just four, however.
"Credit to Tennessee for playing us that way," Morris said. "It took away driving opportunities for us."
Russell said the Lady Vols communicated well in making deployment adjustments.
"The zone was very good to us," she said. "Today we played it very well. That's the best we've played it all year. Obviously their shooters hit a couple threes but I think we limited them as much as we could."
Tennessee bolted to a 26-7 lead after one quarter. Westbrook reached double-figure scoring for a fourth consecutive game before the quarter's end with 11 points.
It took UT more than two quarters thereafter to match that point total. Their effort was undermined by sloppiness and spotting shooting. Westbrook rebuked herself for committing seven of Tennessee's 21 turnovers.
"Personally, I just have to take care of the ball better, point blank," she said. "As a point guard, I can't have the highest (number) of turnovers for the team. That's not how it should be."
Warlick seemed more concerned about Tennessee' shot selection.
"We have to do a better job of time and possession," Warlick said. "I'll take that. We haven't worked on that a lot and that's on me. We will. We shot the ball too early and we shot one on three a couple times. But we'll watch the tape."
Catchings Appearance
Lady Vols legend Tamika Catchings will be the guest speaker at the first meeting of the Big Orange TipOff Club, Wednesday at noon at Calhoun's on the River.
Up Next
Tennessee returns home to face Auburn at 7 p.m. Thursday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
It will be UT's first home game since Dec. 10 against Texas and the first of two in a row at the arena. Vanderbilt visits on Sunday.
More Lady Vols Headlines:
Practice pays off for Lady Vols
Tennessee Lady Vols play through offensive struggles to win over Kentucky
Tennessee Lady Vols consider what other SEC teams think of them
What's behind Lady Vols' 12-0 start
Tennessee Lady Vols' Evina Westbrook assists by increasing her scoring
Evina Westbrook seizing scoring opportunity
Tennessee Lady Vols end losing streak at Stanford with 83-71 victory
How do the Lady Vols end losing streak at Stanford?
Tennessee Lady Vols score big on 3-pointers in win over Long Beach State