University of Tennessee Athletics
4.3 Seconds To Victory
January 29, 2015 | Women's Basketball
By Brian Rice LEXINGTON, Ky.
UTSports.com
No. 6 Tennessee led No. 10 Kentucky by a single point, 73-72, a ball out of bounds had the rock in the hands of the Wildcats.
The first pass was tipped away by Andraya Carter. 3.6 seconds to go.
A shot up by the Wildcats, blocked by Jordan Reynolds out of bounds.
Another pass in, another shot, another block, this one from Carter.
And with that, the streak was done.
Tennessee defeated a top-10 opponent on the road for the first time since a Candace Parker-led Lady Vol team beat No. 9 Duke on Jan. 28, 2008. Seven years and one day later, the monkey is off UT's back.
"It's been a struggle on the road for us against top-10 teams," senior Cierra Burdick said. "I think this is a huge statement of how hard we work and the heart that we have."
Not that head coach Holly Warlick had the streak on her mind.
"We didn't talk about that," Warlick said, echoing her comments after a loss to Notre Dame last Monday. "We just talked about our game against Kentucky. We focused on Kentucky and how they play and what they do, that was our main concern."
Isabelle Harrison made herself into Kentucky's main concern and the Wildcats found no answer, particularly in the game's waning moments. The senior became the newest member of Tennessee's 1,000-point club with a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Harrison asserted her will down the stretch, scoring 11 of Tennessee's final 17 points in a game of runs that saw neither team lead by more than six points, which was the halftime margin in favor of UK.
"She works before she gets the ball and I thought she did a great job of that tonight," Warlick said. "She didn't get frustrated. She was solid and did the work she had to do before getting the ball and got open and we found a way to get her the ball."
The work that Harrison did away from the ball contributed to her ability to score once it was in her hand, especially in the final stretch.
"We were a lot more open in the second half than in the first half," Harrison said. "Kentucky's defense is non-stop. The longer we went, everyone got gassed a little bit and we were able to apply that much more pressure to get open and make the extra pass."
Harrison's final bucket came with 1:24 to play, and put UT up 73-69. From there, it was all about the defense. A Makayla Epps 3-pointer, her third of the night, with 1:16 to play took the lead down to a point.
"I was not very calm," Warlick said of the final sequence. "It boils down to getting stops. I'm proud of us getting the ball and getting a stop."
And ultimately, UT was exactly where it wanted to be in the final moments.
"We've hung our hat on defense all season," Burdick said. "This is the position that we want to be in. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to win that game."
