NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s basketball team got a 25-point performance from junior Iyana Moore against Tennessee on Sunday, but her efforts couldn’t lift the Commodores past a hot-shooting Lady Volunteers squad, as the Dores dropped an 86-61 decision at Memorial Gymnasium.
Moore scored a game-high 25 points to lead a trio of double-digit scorers for Vanderbilt. The Murfreesboro, Tennessee, native hit a team-best three 3-point field goals, as Moore recorded her sixth game with 20 or more points this season. The junior averaged 22.0 points per game in a pair of regular season contests against the Lady Vols.
Graduate student Jordyn Cambridge followed Moore’s performance with a 14-point effort. The point guard dished out a game-high six assists and pulled down six rebounds. Cambridge’s six assists against Tennessee brings her career total to 409, as she is now one helper away from breaking into the top 10 on Vanderbilt’s all-time assist list. Junior Sacha Washington nearly had a double-double, as she scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
Vanderbilt shot 32.9 percent from the floor against Tennessee, while the Lady Vols made 52.5 percent of their shots. The Dores collected seven steals as a team. Cambridge and freshman Khamil Pierre each registered a game-high three steals.
How It Happened
The Lady Volunteers only missed three of their 13 shots during the first quarter, as Tennessee jumped out to a 30-15 lead over the Commodores after 10 minutes of play. The Dores cut their deficit to 10 points midway through the second quarter, however, Tennessee was able to push its lead back out to 15 at 44-29 to end the half.
Vanderbilt opened the third quarter on a 6-2 run that pulled the Commodores to within 11 points at 46-35 after a Washington layup. Tennessee responded and extended its lead out to 21 points thanks to an 8-0 run late in the third stanza that put the Lady Vols up 64-43. UT maintained a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the contest, as Vanderbilt pulled to as close as 11 points in the fourth quarter before Tennessee walked away with a 25–point victory.
Head Coach Shea Ralph on the Result
“I thought Tennessee outplayed us today. It felt like they made every open shot. I don’t think we helped ourselves in that area because we gave up a lot of open looks. We dug ourselves a hole early, which we don’t normally do. If you look at the stat sheet, we were competitive in most areas, except for shooting percentage. We missed a lot of open shots. There are things coming out of today that I know we can get better at, and there are things that are outside of our control that didn’t go our way. It’s the end of February and you want to be playing your best basketball and I thought today Tennessee played really well. They made it hard for us to get anything going. I think we can be much more competitive on the defensive end of the floor. We’ll make the adjustments we need to make so that we can have a strong finish to the regular season.”
Up Next
The Commodores will take a break from action this upcoming week, as Vanderbilt returns to action on Feb. 25 to take on Arkansas. Tipoff from Bud Walton Arena is set for 2 p.m. and will stream live on SEC Network+.
Dore Notes
- Iyana Moore’s 25-point performance marks her fifth game this season scoring at least 25 points, while it is her sixth game scoring 20 or more points
- Moore averaged 22.0 points per game in the two regular season games against Tennessee this season
- Moore shot a perfect 100 percent from the line, going 6-for-6, to mark the third time she has gone perfect from the charity stripe with at least six attempts
- Moore also posted her seventh game of the season with three or more made 3-point field goals
- Jordyn Cambridge is just one assist shy from breaking into the top 10 on Vanderbilt’s all-time leader list, as she currently has 409 career assists. Cathy Bender (1979-82) is currently 10th all-time with 410 assists
- Cambridge finished with three steals, as she is now just 11 away from breaking Deborah Denton’s (1986-89) program record of 338 career steals
- Sacha Washington led all players with eight rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass, marking the fourth game in the last five with at least five offensive boards
- Khamil Pierre grabbed six boards, good for her sixth-consecutive game with at least five rebounds
Follow Us
For more information and exclusive content on the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team, follow @VandyVBB on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter/X.
