Four Lady Volunteers scored in double figures and Gwen Jackson added 11 rebounds as No. 2 Tennessee defeated No. 15 Florida, 88-64, in both teams' Southeastern Conference women's basketball opener Thursday in front of 2,706 at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
Vanessa Hayden led the Lady Gators (10-4, 0-1 SEC) with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Brandi McCain and Monique Cardenas both added 12 points.
"It was obviously not the way we wanted to open league play, but that's the way things went," Florida head coach Carol Ross said. "Give Tennessee credit. They had a big week preparing for Florida and UConn and they handled the first very well. We were outrebounded by 20 and had 19 turnovers. We did not take care of the ball, and in this league you have to do that night in and night out."
Tennessee's Michelle Snow hit a jumper during the first minute of play to put the Lady Vols ahead 2-0. Florida answered with a jumper from Vanessa Hayden to tie the game at 2-2. After Snow made one-of-two free throws for Tennessee, the Lady Gators took a 4-3 lead on a Monique Cardenas jumper. After that the Lady Vols went on a 7-0 run to build a 10-4 lead. Florida responded with three unanswered points to cut the Tennessee lead to three.
Tennessee (11-0, 1-0 SEC) then went on an 8-0 run to extend its lead to 18-7. Florida began chipping away at that lead with its own 4-0 run before the Lady Vols took control of the first half. Hayden was whistled for her third foul with 9:34 left in the first stanza and sat out the rest of the half. After her departure, Florida was outscored 20-11in the remaining nine minutes, during which Tennessee held the Lady Gators scoreless for five minutes and without a field goal for six. The Lady Vols took a 38-20 lead into halftime.
At halftime both teams had recorded 12 fouls. Florida accounted for seven of the first 11 fouls called. Five fouls were called against starters Brandi McCain and Vanessa Hayden in the first 10 minutes of the game, putting a damper of Florida's offense.
"Overall it was a solid performance. We did a good job distributing the ball," Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt said. "We're clearly ready to go back home after eight road games. The team has done an excellent job taking it one game at a time and respecting its opponent, thanks to good leadership."
Florida shot better in the second half than in the first, connecting on 17-of-37 (45.9 percent) from the field, as did the Lady Vols, who shot 54.5 percent on 18-for-33 shooting. Florida connected on just 8-of-31 field goal attempts for a 25.8 shooting percentage, while Tennessee shot 40.5 percent (15-37) from the field in the first half. For the game, the Lady Vols shot 47.1 percent (33-70) while Florida was held to 36.8 percent shooting (25-68). Tennessee outrebounded the Lady Gators 54-34.
Florida next travels to No. 17 Auburn on Sunday to face the Tigers at 3 p.m. EST.
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