December 8, 2020

Dores Buck ETSU for Season's First Win

Pehadzic and Love combine for 43 in Vandy victory

Box Score #1

Game

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Koi Love and Enna Pehadzic did the heavy lifting and the remaining Commodores did the rest Tuesday at Memorial Gymnasium in a 81-61 win over visiting East Tennessee State.

Love, a sophomore, scored 19 to go along with a career-high 12 rebounds while Pehadzic, a fifth-year senior, poured in 25 and made six 3s. Brinae Alexander also had 11 points and five boards in Vanderbilt’s first win of the season while Chelsie Hall scored 16.

“It felt good to be back in Memorial and get our first win,” Love said. “We’re really excited about the way we played. I think we obviously still have a lot to work out in our offense and our defense, but it was a good start.”

Pehadzic’s six 3s tied for 10th-most in a game in program history and were two away from tying the program’s all-time record for made 3s in a single contest. She became the first Commodore to make at least six 3s in a game since Rachel Bell scored seven against Syracuse on Nov. 24, 2017.

The Dores (1-1) now head back on the road to face Chattanooga (0-1) at 1 p.m. CT Sunday.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, it was all Vandy as it used a 28-7 third quarter to erase doubt after a seven-point halftime score. East Tennessee State led by four after one and was tied with its cross-state rival at 22 with 7:36 left in the first half until fading.

Vanderbilt, which had eight available student-athletes Tuesday, started the game up 4-0 before East Tennessee responded with five in a row. A pair of Love free throws followed by an Alexander steal at half court leading to an easy layup made it 8-5.

After a Pehadzic 3 from the right corner put the Dores ahead 13-7, the Buccaneers responded with a 10-0 run and Carly Hooks’ layup at the buzzer made it 17-13 going into the second.

Vandy got back-to-back triples from Pehadzic and Alexander, respectively, early in the second quarter to edge ahead 25-22 and a Love jumper from the left elbow stretched it to 28-22.

Pehadzic’s fourth 3 of the evening put the Commodores ahead 31-24 halfway through the second quarter. The Buccaneers couldn’t get any closer than five from there and Hall’s layup with less than three seconds to go sent Vandy into the locker room up 38-31.

Love and Pehadzic combined for 28 in the first half and Love collected six rebounds while Vanderbilt overcame a 36.4 percent shooting effort.

Vandy came out red hot in the third quarter and poured in six straight to expand the lead to 44-31 and force an East Tennessee State timeout with 7:26 remaining in the period. Hall’s steal later in the frame made it 51-34 and then Alexander’s 3 with 2:08 allowed the Commodores to enjoy a 58-37 lead.

The Buccaneers found themselves down 66-38 going into the fourth quarter and didn’t have a comeback left in the tank.

“Once we got into a rhythm in the second quarter and worked out the kinks in the first quarter, I think we all came out in the third quarter and really just took pride in Vanderbilt,” Love said. “We understood that ETSU was not a team that should be competing with us, so we just all took it personally and tried to run up the score.”

East Tennessee State (1-2), which played 12 student-athletes Tuesday, was led by Shynia Jackson and Mykia Dowdell who each had nine.

Vanderbilt has now won seven in a row in the all-time series dating back to a loss Jan. 15, 1981.

“I was just really proud of the way we bounced back (after an opening-season loss,” Vanderbilt head coach Stephanie White said. “And happy for our kids that we got to play a game at home and get back to feeling good about playing basketball.”