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| Tennessee's Tamika Catchings and Louisiana Tech's Brooke Lassiter battle for the loose ball. (AP Photo/The News-Star, Dan Currier) |
RUSTON (Dec. 10) - Second-ranked Tennessee used a deep bench and an early second-half spurt to defeat No. 10 Louisiana Tech 70-62 Dec. 10 at the Thomas Assembly Center in front of 7,633.
Not only did the Lady Vols win improve their record to 7-0 on the year, but it snapped a 30-game home court winning streak by the Lady Techsters (7-3). The contest marked the third straight season that the visiting team had broken a long home-court winning streak as Tennessee snapped a Tech 52-game streak in 1998 while the Lady Techsters snapped the Lady Vols 40-game streak last year.
Trailing 40-36 at the half, Tech struggled from the field early in the second half as Tennessee built a 54-41 advantage at the 11:47 mark of the game.
And although Tech fought back, the Lady Techsters could get no closer than five on two different occasions late in the game.
"We know our shortcomings," Barmore said. "I think Tennessee executed when they needed to and did what they had to do to win. That's why they are No. 2 in the nation, and why they are victorious today." Junior Ayana Walker led Tech by scoring a career-high 26 points, grabbing six rebounds and recording a career-high six blocked shots in 38 minutes of action, while Takeisha Lewis added 19 points and eight rebounds.
"I was really proud of Takeisha Lewis," Barmore said. "She played the game today like she should always play it. When she made mistakes she didn't allow them to bother her and stayed with it. I hope this is a turning point for her."
Tech's downfall was the lack of depth as Tennessee paraded 11 players in and out throughout the game, while Barmore used only seven Lady Techsters.
"We are going to be faced with (a lack of depth problem)," Barmore said. "It is very obvious. We have had another injury to our basketball team (in Ashley Antony). We are not very deep on the bench. The first two coming off are post people. They played about 11 people and every one of them was a good player."
Ashley Robinson and Gwen Jackson led UT with 14 points apiece, while Kara Lawson added 11 and Michelle Snow 10. The Lady Techsters held Tamika Catchings, who was the player of the year in the nation last season, to a career-low two points on 1-of-11 shooting.
However, Tech was outrebounded for the first time this season 50-39 and managed to shoot only 31 percent in the second half and 36 percent for the game.
Tech returns to action Tuesday as the Lady Techsters host Centenary at 7 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center.
