University of Tennessee Athletics
Numbers Add Up To Tennessee Moving On
March 23, 2015 | Women's Basketball
By Brian Rice
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
UTSports.com
To the Lady Vols, it made perfect sense.
In classroom math, 32 - 1 does not produce the "16" that was found in the answer column. But in basketball math, 32 NCAA Tournament teams minus one round produces 16 teams.
To be one of those 16, the Lady Vols needed a steady dose of No. 12 against Pittsburgh.
If there was ever a time for a player to step up, it was this moment for the player in that jersey, Bashaara Graves. After scoring 20 points or more just twice in the regular season, Graves did it for the second time in as many games in the NCAA Tournament. A career-high 24 points in the first round were nearly matched with her 21-point performance against the Panthers.
"I think when Izzy [Harrison] went out, she understands that she has to step up and do things for this basketball team," head coach Holly Warlick said. "How she is playing now has been a result great practices, very intense, very focused. We got her the basketball, we are going to get her the basketball. We play the game inside, out. We are going to go through Bashaara Graves. I don't think that is a secret, that is how we play. As long as she keeps producing, 14 rebounds and she shot the ball well from the free throw line, we are going to get her the basketball."
The 14 rebounds were a season high for the junior, with 10 of them coming on the offensive end.
"I think we wanted to just push them out of the paint and not let them get any paint points," Graves said. "I think we did a great job of that and just trying to box them out as best as we can."
It was not only No. 12 that contributed to the effort. She also received backup from a steady dose of Nos. 5 and 11, Ariel Massengale and Cierra Burdick.
Massengale backed up her 18 points on Saturday with 16 against Pitt. She missed a pair of technical free throws before the game began, but went 6 for 6 from the line in the final 37 seconds to seal the win in her final appearance at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"It's a great feeling," she said of her final game in Knoxville, which came with former head coach Pat Summitt seated just behind the Lady Vol bench. "She gave us the opportunity to wear this Lady Vol uniform, and we are more than grateful for that. We hope that in these four years that we made her proud."
Burdick was held scoreless in the NCAA opener and was determined not to repeat the zero in the box score. 19 seconds into the game, it was mission accomplished.
"It's always nice to see the ball go in the bucket," Burdick said. "I was just trying to stay positive. I knew today I had to bounce back. It was nice to see the ball go through. My coaches and teammates did a great job of continuing to encourage me and telling me to shoot the ball and not sweat what happened Saturday."
She finished with 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, all of them on the defensive end.
The win was the 29th of the season for Warlick, tying for the most in her three seasons at Tennessee. It was represented on that white board in the locker room, where the next time NCAA Tournament math subtracts one, there will be just eight teams left.
"We want to keep winning one more and one more," Warlick said. "So we are on the course of doing what we want to do regardless of our record."
