Davis helps No. 10 Lady Vols outlast Ole Miss 75-66

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee's switch to a zone defense proved essential Thursday in helping the 10th-ranked Lady Vols withstand Mississippi's upset bid.

They'd prefer to make sure that kind of move isn't necessary often.

Rennia Davis matched a career high with 18 points and Jaime Nared had a double-double Thursday night as No. 10 Tennessee pulled away down the stretch for a 75-66 victory. The game was tied late in the third quarter before Tennessee's zone sparked a 14-2 run.

"At the end of the day, we shouldn't have to default to a zone," said Nared, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. "We should be able to play good one-on-one defense. We just have to work on it."

Tennessee (17-3, 5-2 SEC) was facing an unranked team for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks after playing four straight games against Top 25 opponents. The Lady Vols had gone 1/3 during that stretch with a victory at No. 9 South Carolina and losses to No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 2 Mississippi State.

The unranked Rebels (11-9, 1-6) still put up a challenge before losing their fourth straight. Tennessee finally slowed the Rebels down with its zone defense.

"I'm going to play whatever helps us win," Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said. "I always want to play man-to-man, but I can be a great 40-minute zone coach if it's going to help us win. My biggest thing is just communicating and effort."

Tennessee got 16 points from Anastasia Hayes and 13 from Mercedes Russell. Davis had eight rebounds to go along with her 18 points.

Ole Miss' Madinah Muhammad scored 31 points and pulled down eight rebounds to set career highs in both categories. Alissa Alston added 19 for the Rebels.

Tennessee led by as many as 16 early, but Ole Miss ended the first half with a 14-0 spurt and headed into the locker room trailing 40-38. Muhammad shot 6 of 7 from 3-point range in the first half and had 22 points by halftime.

The Lady Vols went scoreless the last 6 minutes, 10 seconds of the first half as Davis, Hayes and Evina Westbrook spent most of the second quarter on the bench with two fouls each.

"We got a little hesitant and a little timid when we got in foul trouble," Warlick said. "We can't get ourselves in that situation."

Ole Miss eventually tied the game at 49-all on Alston's driving layup with: 2:54 left in the third quarter, but Tennessee took control from there. The Lady Vols led by as many as 19 points in the final period.

"We stopped being aggressive, which is what got us to tie the game up," Muhammad said. "When they fell back into the zone, we kind of had a hard time reading how to attack the basket and it kind of slowed us down a little bit, and then I think they just got momentum going back in transition and we stopped getting back and we stopped getting stops."

BIG PICTURE

Ole Miss: Muhammad and Alston delivered huge performances for Ole Miss, but the Rebels didn't get much from anyone else. Those two players combined for 50 of the Rebels' 66 points.

Muhammad had an unusual line, as she went 7 of 10 from 3-point range but 3 of 12 from inside the arc. Muhammad also drew a technical foul in the fourth quarter when she stomped her feet in frustration after getting called for a foul.

Tennessee: The Lady Vols wanted to lengthen their rotation to provide some rest for Russell and Nared, who entered the night averaging over 37 minutes in SEC competition. Tennessee opened the second period with only one starter (Davis) on the floor. Freshman center Kasiyahna Kushkituah, who hadn't played at all since the Dec. 31 SEC opener against Kentucky, entered the game late in the first quarter.

But the plans to substitute more often were abandoned when Ole Miss stayed close. Russell ended up playing 37 minutes with Nared playing 36 minutes.

QUOTABLE

"I would say the first half for us was borderline, you know, horrible," Davis said.

3-POINT WOES

Tennessee had gone eight straight quarters without making a 3-point basket before Hayes hit two shots from beyond the arc in the fourth period.

UP NEXT

Ole Miss hosts No. 2 Mississippi State on Sunday.

Tennessee is at LSU on Sunday.

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