University of Tennessee Athletics
#6 Lady Vols Continue Mastery Of MSU, 79-67
February 01, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2015
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee remained perfect against Mississippi State on Sunday. The #6 Lady Vols beat the #18 Bulldogs for the 36th consecutive time winning 79-67 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Lady Vols (19-3 overall) continue their perfect mark in the SEC, moving to 9-0 in the league this season. It is the first time 2010-11 that the Lady Vols have won their first nine SEC games. That year UT went a perfect 16-0.
Tennessee has won all 13 games at home this season and 17 overall in a row at home dating to February 20, 2014. The Lady Vols have also won 16 consecutive games against SEC opponents dating to last season.
Senior Cierra Burdick led Tennessee with a career-high 24 points as she made 9-of-15 from the floor. She also handed out a season-high six assists and grabbed eight rebounds.
For the second game in a row, a Lady Vol scored her 1,000th career point. Bashaara Graves scored 17 points, with the 1,000th coming on a free throw in the final seconds of the game and now has 1,001 in her career. In Tennessee's last game at Kentucky, Isabelle Harrison became the 39th Lady Vols to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Senior Ariel Massengale (8 points) is only nine shy of her 1,000th point.
Harrison scored 11 and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season and 30th of her career.
The Lady Vols shot a season-best 56.9 from the floor, besting their mark of 55.6 vs. LSU on Jan. 22.
Off to their best start in school history, Mississippi State fell to 22-3 overall and 7-3 in the SEC. The Bulldogs saw their four-game win streak come to an end on Sunday. They have now lost three of their last seven games after starting the year with 18 consecutive wins.
The SEC's leading freshman scorer Victoria Vivians (14.5 ppg) continued her sensational season leading the Bulldogs with 17. Breanna Richardson added 13.
Up five at the half, the Lady Vols stayed perfect when leading at intermission, winning for the 15th time without a loss.
Tennessee built a 46-38 lead early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Burdick. The Lady Vols took their first double-figure lead of the game on a 3-point play by Graves with 14:45 left in the game, 55-44.
UT made 11 of its first 12 field goal attempts in the second half to take command of the game. Graves connected on four buckets in a row to push the Lady Vols' lead to 59-44 with an 11-0 spurt with 13 minutes to go.
The Lady Vols went cold from the field after their hot start to the second half, as they didn't score for a span of 4:12. Mississippi State went on a 9-0 run to cut its deficit to five points (70-65) on a Kendra Grant jumper with 3:16 left in the game.
Harrison layup with 2:56 left ended the draught for the Lady Vols and pushed their lead back to three possessions at 72-65. Burdick added four free throws in the final minutes to regain the double-figure lead as she set her career-high for scoring.
Graves scored that 1,000th point with a free throw with 15.8 seconds left
Tennessee held a 36-31 lead at halftime in 20 minutes of up-tempo action. The Lady Vols shot 54 percent as Massengale closed the half with a jumper. Burdick led Tennessee with eight points while Vivians had 13 points for Mississippi State -- all in the first 11 minutes of the game.
For the game's first 14:57, neither team led by more than three points, the contest was tied 11 times with the lead changing hands four times. Graves finally gave the Lady Vols a two-possession lead with a pair of free throws with 5:03 left in the half at 27-23.
Sunday's game was the first between ranked Tennessee and Mississippi State teams since the 2003 SEC Tournament.
The Lady Vols return to action a week from today as they travel to Gainesville, Florida to take on the Gators (10-11, 2-6 SEC) on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. ET. That game airs on ESPNU and can be heard on the Lady Vol Network.
