Liberty Falls To SEC Foe Tennessee 90-55 (12-31-23)

By: Ty Tracy

Headline Photo Credit: Liberty Athletics

The Liberty women’s teams facing another tough non-conference opponent as they host an SEC powerhouse basketball program the Tennessee Lady Volunteers on a Sunday afternoon before the New Year starts. The Liberty Flames have been facing really tough non-conference opponents since the start of the season facing teams like Texas Longhornes, Louisville Cardinals, Alabama Roll Tide, and Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The Lady Volunteers led the entire game from start to finish they started the game with a quick eight-to-zero run then later in the first quarter held the Flames to nine points after the end of the first quarter with the first quarter score being 25 to 9 making it their third-fewest points in the opening quarter scoring under 10 points. The Lady Volunteers outrebounded the Lady Flames 17-7 forcing seven turnovers. In the Second the Lady Flames started to find a little bit of life after cutting down to a 12-point game with 5:24 left in the half 30 to 18 until Tess Darby hit two three back-to-back to increase the score and shot 80% from the three-point land making four out of five of her three’s with the half time score being 43 to 24.

After the second half started, The Lady Volunteers started causing a lot of problems for the Lady Flames as they could find no answer to stop the Lady Volunteers in the second half. The Lady Volunteers were shooting 63.6 percent (14-of-22) on the floor and made five threes during the period, pushing out to a 76-43 lead. As in the final quarter, both team’s offenses played at a slow steady pace for the entire fourth quarter with the final score of 90 to 55. The Lady Volunteers dominated the Lady Flames from Points off turnovers 21-12, points in paint 40-22, and second chance points 19-7.

Tennessee Lady Volunteers Head Coach Kellie Harper commented on the team’s victory performance saying “I thought we did a nice job sharing the basketball, making extra passes. I thought we looked comfortable and very confident with our scheme and how we’re going attack.” Also adding “I thought that was a good game for us getting ready for conference play.”

The Lady Flames are now zero and three all-time against Tennessee and 1-22 All-Time against SEC opponents, playing two SEC opponents this year making 21 straight games all-time. Liberty will open up their first conference play game against Western Kentucky (9-6) on Saturday.