Lady Vols can’t measure up

By STEVE MEGARGEE
AP Sports Writer
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Holly Warlick couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Now the 10th-ranked Lady Vols want to make sure she never has to again.
Tennessee shot just 31.9 percent and missed its first 12 attempts from 3-point range Saturday in a 73-60 loss to No. 1 Stanford.
But the lack of offense didn’t bother Warlick nearly as much as the lack of effort.
“The whole game I was in disbelief because we did not affect Stanford one bit,” Warlick said.
The past week has shown the Lady Vols they have a long way to go to catch up to the nation’s top teams. Tennessee had lost 76-53 at No. 3 Baylor on Tuesday before squandering an opportunity Saturday to beat a top-ranked team at home for the first time since a 77-72 victory over Louisiana Tech on Jan. 22, 1996.
In the Baylor game, Tennessee missed its first 11 shots to fall behind 17-0 and trailed 41-16 at the intermission, its largest halftime deficit in school history.
The Lady Vols shot 22 of 69 against Stanford and missed their first 12 3- point attempts.
Stanford won for only the second time in 13 trips to Knoxville. The Cardinal hadn’t won at Tennessee since an 82-65 victory on Dec. 15, 1996.
Bashaara Graves had 15 points and 12 rebounds for Tennessee (7-3). Meighan Simmons added 12 points.
The Lady Vols had no answers for Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike, who had 21 points and 19 rebounds.
MEN
Tennessee 66, WCU 52
KNOXVILLE (AP) — After a first half in which Tennessee couldn’t figure anything out, the Volunteers came up with the idea that enabled them to avoid an upset.
Tennessee made just three baskets in the entire first half Friday night, but capitalized on a huge discrepancy at the free-throw line to outlast Western Carolina 66-52 for its 300th victory at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Vols (7-3) are 300-104 at Thompson-Boling Arena, their home floor since the 1987-88 season.
That’s what they did the rest of the game. The Vols went 30-of-42 on free throws, while Western Carolina was 8-of-11.
Tennessee’s three first-half baskets represented its lowest total for a half in six years. The Vols also made just three baskets in the second half of a 56-44 loss to Butler on Nov. 22, 2006.
The Vols were 3-of-21 overall, 0-of-7 from 3-point range and 16-of-20 from the line in the first half.
Jordan McRae led Tennessee with 14 points, while Richardson and Stokes added 12 points.
Published in The Messenger 12.24.12

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