Jan. 3, 2015
Teams: No. 8/9 Tennessee (11-2, 1-0) at Vanderbilt (8-5, 0-1)
Day, Date: Monday, Jan. 5
Tip-off time: 6 p.m. (CT)
Site: Memorial Gym (Nashville, Tenn.)
Radio: 560 AM & 95.9 FM
TV: SEC Network
Tickets: Tickets can be purchased by calling 615-322-GOLD, visiting the McGugin Center ticket office or logging on to vucommodores.com.
For the second time in the span of five days, the Vanderbilt women will line up against a Top-10 opponent — and this time, as they say, it’s personal. On Monday night, the Commodores (8-5, 0-1) welcome in-state rival Tennessee (11-2, 1-0) to Memorial Gym for an SEC showdown. Although UT owns a commanding lead in the series, Vanderbilt has defeated the Lady Vols in two of the past three seasons in Nashville. The Lady Vols are ranked No. 8 in this week’s Associated poll and are No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches poll. The Commodores opened SEC play on Thursday night, falling to No. 5/8 Texas A&M, 75-61, in College Station. Tennessee opened its conference schedule with a 63-53 win over Missouri, and the Lady Vols will carry a seven-game winning streak into Monday’s game. Vanderbilt and Tennessee split their meetings last year, with each team winning on its home floor. Here are a few storylines surrounding Monday’s contest:
l GETTING STRONGER. After an injury-plagued December, the Commodores are getting much closer to a clean bill of health. In Thursday’s loss to Texas A&M, freshman Khalèann Caron-Goudreau — who missed the first 12 games of the season with an ankle injury — made her debut for the Commodores, and finished with 11 points and three rebounds. Also seeing playing time for Vanderbilt were Marqu’es Webb and Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau, who both were in action for the second consecutive game after missing a good portion of December with injuries. The only player on the Commodore roster who wasn’t available for Thursday’s game was freshman Rachel Bell. The 5-10 guard from Cumberland Furnace was suffering from flu-like symptoms and did not make the trip to College Station. It is likely that head coach Melanie Balcomb will have all 13 players on the roster available for Monday’s game, which will mark the first time this season that has happened.
l BIG NIGHT AT MEMORIAL: Monday night will feature several special activities and events at Memorial Gym. The Vanderbilt WBB program will be saluting the VU employees throughout the night during the annual Employee Celebration, which begins with a pre-game party at 4:30 in the practice gym. Also, the Vanderbilt Children’s Cello Choir will be performing the National Anthem, and Vanderbilt’s all-male a cappella group, the Dodecs, will perform at halftime.
l STARTING SOMETHING NEW. The Commodores’ starting lineup has been very fluid this season — a development that is at least partly, if not mostly, due to the team’s string of injuries. Head coach Melanie Balcomb has used seven different combinations through the first 12 games of the season, and Morgan Batey is the only Vanderbilt player to start every game. The first change to the lineup came in just the second game of the season, and it changed again in the fourth game. Since then, new combinations have been used in Game 8, Game 9, Game 11 and Game 13.
l SCOUTING THE LADY VOLS. Tennessee comes into Monday’s game ranked fourth in the SEC in scoring (76.1 ppg) and third in the conference in defense (allowing 51.6 ppg). The Lady Vols rank second in the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (197/176). … UT’s leading scorer this season is Ariel Massengale, who is averaging 11.8 points per game. The 5-7 senior point guard, who has come off the bench in 11 of her 12 games, is shooting a team-high 42 percent from 3-point range. … Isabelle Harrison, a 6-3 senior center from Hillsboro High in Nashville, is averaging 11.3 ppg and leads the team in rebounding at 8.6 per game. … Bashaara Graves is also averaging double-figures in scoring at 10.6 ppg. … The Lady Vols scored 80 or more points in six of their first eight games, including 111 against Saint Frances, but have scored an average of just 61 points per game in their past five games.
l TENNESSEE’S SEASON TO DATE. Tennessee comes to town riding an impressive seven-game win streak that featured victories over three ranked foes in the span of two weeks. The Lady Vols earned a road win over No. 17 Rutgers on Dec. 14, posted a win over No. 7 Stanford on Dec. 20, and beat No. 10 Oregon State on Dec. 28. … Tennessee’s seven-game winning streak comes after the Lady Vols had dropped two straight games in late November, falling to Chattanooga and No. 6-ranked Texas. … The Lady Vols opened the season with four straight lopsided victories — over Penn, Oral Roberts, Winthrop and Tennessee State — before suffering the road loss to Chattanooga on Nov. 26. It was the second time in three years that the Lady Mocs have downed Holly Warlick’s team, including spoiling her debut with UT in 2012-13.
l SIZING UP THE SERIES. Monday’s game marks the 72nd all-time match-up between the Commodores and the Lady Vols, with Tennessee owning a 62-9 lead in the series. … Vanderbilt has defeated UT in three of the past six seasons (2008-09, 2011-12 and 2013-14), with all three wins coming in Nashville. … Vanderbilt owns a 7-23 all-time record against UT at Memorial Gym, but the Commodores have never won in Knoxville (0-29). Vanderbilt is 2-10 against the Lady Vols on neutral courts. … The teams meet twice last season, with Vanderbilt winning 74-63 in Nashville in January, and the Lady Vols posting an 81-53 win in Knoxville less than a month later (More on those games below). … The series dates back to the 1979-80 season.
l LOOKING BACK. Vanderbilt and Tennessee met two times last season, with vastly different results. The Commodores defeated the Lady Vols, 74-63, in Nashville on Jan. 12, marking the second time in three years — and the third time in six years — that VU has defeated its rival. The Lady Vols, however, got some revenge on the Commodores less than a month later when UT handed Vanderbilt its worst loss of the season, 81-53, on Feb. 10. … During the meeting in Nashville, Vanderbilt trailed 39-29 early in the second half before getting off the deck and outscoring Tennessee 45-24 during the final 16½ minutes to upset the Lady Vols, who were ranked No. 8 in the AP poll. Former Vanderbilt standouts Jasmine Lister and Christina Foggie, who were facing their in-state rivals on their home court for the final time, propelled the Commodores’ comeback. Lister finished with a game-high 26 points, including scoring seven straight for Vanderbilt during a crucial stretch in the second half. Foggie, who had two pivotal baskets in the final six minutes, scored 21 points. Freshman Marqu’es Webb added 12 points, and Morgan Batey had nine points and eight rebounds. Batey’s jumper with 6:44 left to play gave Vanderbilt a 51-50 lead, and the Commodores never trailed again. … During the game in Knoxville in February, Vanderbilt fell behind by 11 points at the half and then saw the deficit swell throughout the final 20 minutes as the Lady Vols rolled to the 28-point win. Christina Foggie finished with 22 points to lead the Commodores. Meighan Simmons scored 22 points and Isabelle Harrison added 18 for the Lady Vols (20-4, 9-2). The two players combined to go 17-of-25 from the floor.
l BOWE IS BACK IN A BIG WAY After missing the first few weeks of the season, Vanderbilt junior Heather Bowe has made an impressive return for the Commodores, averaging 12.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in her first five games. The junior post player, who did not see action in VU’s first seven games while serving a suspension for violation of academic policy, is shooting 58 percent from the floor and 71 percent from the foul line since her return. She has led the team in scoring in three of the past five games. Bowe went 8-of-9 from the floor and scored a season-high 16 points in the loss to Texas A&M.
l MOST RECENT GAME: VU FALLS TO TEXAS A&M Facing No. 5-ranked Texas A&M, the Commodores were within striking distance of pulling off the upset late in the second half before the Aggies pulled away in the final minutes and downed Vanderbilt, 75-61. Courtney Williams had 22 points and Courtney Walker added 17 for No. 5 Texas A&M (13-2) in the SEC opener for both teams. Heather Bowe scored 16 points to lead Vanderbilt. She made her first seven shots of the game and finished 8-of-9 for the Commodores (8-5, 0-1), who are finally getting close to full strength after dealing with a variety of injuries in December. A 3-pointer by Rebekah Dahlman got the Commodores within five with about 8 minutes left before the Aggies used a 10-2 run to push the lead to 68-55. Vanderbilt freshman Khaleann Caron-Goudreau, who is the twin sister of Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau, made her season debut after sitting out the first 12 games with an ankle injury. She had 11 points, three assists and three rebounds in 22 minutes.