University of Tennessee Athletics
#4 Lady Vols Fall Short To #6 Texas
November 30, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Box Score | Quotes | Notes
AUSTIN, Texas --Bashaara Graves scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the second half, but No. 4/5 Tennessee could not rally back from an early deficit, falling to No. 6/9 Texas, 72-59 on Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center.
The loss marked the first time Tennessee (4-2) had lost in back-to-back games since falling to Baylor and Stanford in December of 2012. It also halted the Lady Vols' five-game winning streak against Texas (5-0). Tennessee is now 23-13 all-time against the Longhorns and 10-7 against them in Austin.
Leading Texas was Kelsey Lang and Nneka Enemkpalli who shot 18 and 17 points, respectively. Texas shot 49 percent in the game and outscored Tennessee 38-26 in the paint and 12-2 in fast breaks.
Tennessee shot 35 percent in the game and were outrebounded for just the second time this season, 39-38.
With Graves' 15 points, she added 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season and 17th of her career. Andraya Carter shot a season-high 13 points along with seven rebounds. Jordan Reynolds and Jasmine Jones also added 10 points to the game.
Tennessee showed some toughness to cut into the Longhorns' lead in the second half, but Texas never relinquished control of the game.
Andraya Carter's floater in the lane with 3:30 left pulled Tennessee to within 62-53 before the final media timeout.
Down 52-38, Tennessee used a 10-6 run to pull within 10 points at 58-48 with 7:38 left. Graves scored seven points in that stretch.
Texas led by as much as 15 points after Nneka Enemkpali made a layup with 12:51 remaining.
Both teams shot better coming out of halftime. Jones scored four quick points in the paint to help the Lady Vols keep pace with the Longhorns and trail only 44-32 by the first media timeout.
Texas dominated the first half, although neither team shot particularly well. The Longhorns shot 39.4 percent (13-of-33) while the Lady Vols shot just 24.1 percent (7-of-29) in their worst half of shooting this season. Texas also had a 24-21 edge on the boards at halftime.
With 1:06 left before halftime, Carter stole the in-bounds pass and banked home a layup. Jones hit a jumper with 30 seconds left to bring Tennessee to within eight points, but Kelsey Lang's layup with 10 seconds remaining gave the Longhorns a 10-points halftime advantage at 30-20.
A 3-pointer by Ariel Massengale, who made her first start of the season, briefly gave Tennessee a 7-5 lead but Texas exploded on a 23-9 run to lead by as much as 12 points, 28-16, with 3:26 left in the first half.
Texas controlled the game early, taking 5-0 lead as the Lady Vols started 0-of-2 with three turnovers over the first three minutes of action. Tennessee got on the scoreboard at the 16:39 mark when Graves posted up inside for a turnaround jumper in the paint. Lady Vol substitutions and three bad Texas shots swung momentum in Tennessee's favor by the first media timeout.
Tennessee returns to Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday to host Saint Francis (Pa.) at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network +.
