Feb. 12, 2016
Recap | Box Score | Howell’s Photos 
Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
On if missing three pointers early was the deciding factor:
“Not really. What was in our formula was defending and we didn’t defend and I think that’s killing us. We took threes, but they let the right kids shoot threes. We took threes that weren’t from three point shooters. They didn’t give the looks to Rachel [Bell] or Minta [Spears] and they’re our best three point shooters. We played to them, they got what they wanted defensively in their game plan and we did not. We need to get back to defense.”
On cutting the deficit to single digits in the fourth quarter:
“I was worried because it was on eight too long, to be honest with you. By the time [the deficit] got to six I was exhausted, which means [the players] probably were. We fought so hard to get back out there, and for [Marqu’es Webb] to get her fifth foul was pretty deflating for us because she was fresh, they were tired, and we were gonna go to her. I’ll be honest with you, I have no idea what she did to get that foul.”
On taking pride in a second straight comeback that fell short:
“I’m proud of how hard they work. This is a mental thing, a mentality, a mindset, that we’re working on both on the court and off the court. It’s between their two ears. We can do better than we’re doing; we’re a better practice team than this. Everybody’s all in, everybody’s committed, they’re unselfish. I think that’s what’s tough is I like this team, and I expect to win every game we go into. I’m as surprised as they are when we start so poorly.”
On chasing an NCAA Tournament bid:
“I think the best thing for us is that we do play good teams. Right now, we can’t play focusing on the outcome or whether we’re going to go to NCAA or not. I think that’s become a problem. I think we’re getting tight, not because of our opponentâ€â€I don’t think we were getting tight because we were playing UT any different than getting tight when we were playing Arkansas or Auburn. It’s us. We’re beating ourselves mentally because I think we do want to win really bad, and I’ve had some teams that I didn’t feel that way about. It doesn’t make it any easier, because I really want these kids to win and they’re going to have to figure out how to trust the process and trust each other more on the court to start games. We can’t just keep being a really good team down by 14.”
On 13 points and good, physical play from Rebekah Dahlman:
“I think [Rebekah Dahlman] as well as Rayte’a Long gave us a lot of grit. We’ve been talking a lot about being grittier and scrappier and more physical, and that is who Becca Dahlman is. In these games that are a fight, she has a lot of pride in wearing the Vanderbilt jersey. I think all of these kids do, but that’s just who Becca is. She’s a gritty kid so you’re gonna see that, especially in big games. I really liked what Rayte’a Long came in and did and helped and fought defensively on the boards, executing the offense, and getting good minutes for Marqu’es [Webb]. Those two kids were the grittiest tonight.”
Vanderbilt Guard Rebekah Dahlman
On missing threes early on in the game:
“That took us out of everything to be honest. Our shots weren’t falling, and we were down by fourteen. It’s hard to get back into the game. From the start that took away everything. They took away the tempo. They were more aggressive than us, and we didn’t come off strong.”
On being a bubble team:
“To be honest I just take it day by day, practice by practice, and game by game. Whatever happens, happens. But our goal is to get to the tournament and we’ll do whatever it takes to make it to the tournament.”
Vanderbilt Guard Jasmine Jenkins
On preparation for the game:
“In the practices that we had, everybody had a lot of energy. We’ve lost three games before this one, but our motto for the year has been “no win is too great, and no loss is as bad as it seems in the moment.” Whatever happens – we just get back to work. We came into this game really hopeful, especially because it was a close game in Knoxville, which is a really hard arena to play in. Obviously tonight was disappointing, but we have more games to go.”
On only being down by 6 points with minutes left in the fourth quarter:
“We were down twenty points before, and at that point we had a chance to win with a couple minutes left. That just goes to say how talented we are. We played half as well as we could’ve and we still almost had a chance to win the game. I thought we could’ve focused more on getting stops on defense. Every time we cut it within six or eight points, they scored and made plays and went up by ten.”
On how the team can push a fourth quarter comeback into a win:
“We just have to start the games better. Each game we’ve lost in these past two week, we’ve been down by ten, fourteen, twenty points in the first quarter. In Arkansas we were down by twenty five points and actually had a lead with ten seconds left. We just have to start the games better, because our starts have been really poor. I think that if we change that, then we change the game.”
Tennessee Head Coach Holly Warlick
Opening statement:
“It was a hard fought battle. We just have a tremendous amount of respect for Vanderbilt and what they do. It was a great win for us. We finished the game. We finished with a win, and that’s extremely positive for us. I’m very happy that we got away with a ‘W’ “
On ‘finally’ getting a road win:
“You look back on our Kentucky game and the Mississippi State game and for the Texas A&M game, I thought we were solid for three quarters and then we just couldn’t finish the deal. It was really important, we talked about this, to finish the gameâ€â€finish the job. We had an opportunity to fold and we didn’t. Those three games we folded up and didn’t win wins. I’m proud of our kids to weather the storm and finish the game.”
On how the game weighed on her:
“I see a team that has really played hard enough to win and we haven’t. That’s tough, but lookâ€â€we understand what the competition is, and I’m thrilled we won. I’m just glad we put four quarters together that were solid and that we can build on. Any coach, if you lose two overtime games and another game that we were in the game, pretty much weighs on you a little bit.”
On Nared’s shooting:
“We didn’t run a lot of sets tonight. We ran a lot of four out, one in, five out and Jaime took advantage and created those shots. That’s her shot. My credit to Jaime, she’s been in the gym extra so I’m not surprised the way she shot the ball the way she did and she attacked the basket. She did what she was supposed to do and that is to get yourself in position to get a good shot for you.”
On finding ways to score without the three:
“We were open, but I’m sure there’s a reason we’re open. We’re not shooting the three ball very well. I was hoping one would go in, and I’m sure that everybody that shot it was hoping one would go in. But, those are what we’ve gotta one, two, dribble, pull-up when the shots are not falling and our three was not falling. You can always work on something. We’re not a good three-point shooting team. I’m not letting out any secrets.”
On stressing rebounding:
“That was huge for us. We stressed control of the boards, denying the high post, because we feel like Vandy does a lot with the high post, and keep them in front of us. That kind of got away from us, the ‘keeping them in front of us,’ but our rebounding was solid. When you give up 20-something offensive rebounds the last game, you stress it. Our last several practices have primarily been transition defense and boxing out and rebounding.”
On the scoring and adjustments from the last three games versus tonight:
“Well I thought Melanie adjusted. I thought they ran that high ball screen and it gave us a little bit of trouble. I thought they got good looks and penetrated toward the basket and towards the end they didn’t fall. I thought Melanie did a great job of adjusting and got her team really good looks, but sometimes they don’t fall and we made adjustments too. We stayed the course and rebounded the basketball. We didn’t turn the ball over. There’s a big correlation with us in not turning the ball over and giving us opportunities to score and use the clock.”
On winning in convincing fashion:
“I think the game got a little closer than this score indicates. We got to 8 or 6, or whatever we got to, and it’s huge for us because we battled back. We get up in Kentucky, we get up against Mississippi State, we get up against Texas A&M and then we let it go away. This was huge for us. It’s a great momentum builder for us and this was a must-win for us. We talked about that to our kids…We needed a win, just for several reasonsâ€â€for SEC standings, just for our confidence as a team, just everything. We needed a win.”
Tennessee Guard Jaime Nared
On the win:
“To get a win somehow, someway is very nice. Someone was just telling us that we were on a five game road losing streak, so we just needed to get it together and I think we did that, finally.”
On the team’s offensive success:
“They were pressing us and I knew we could just attack them because they’re kind of all spread out. I think Te’a [Cooper] and Diamond [DeShields] attacked them, so just attacking their press got us easy lay-ups.”
On getting open looks:
“I think my teammates were cutting and getting open shots for each other so, when someone cuts, it allows you to drive and get open jump shots. That’s a testament to how hard everyone was playing at the end of the game. We got easy buckets.”
On what led to a season high 18 points:
“I think just playing hard. We knew we needed to get a win and everyone did their part in getting this win and we just toughed it out.”
Tennessee Guard Te’a Cooper
On a collision with Vanderbilt’s Rebekah Dahlman in the third quarter:
“I was running and she fell on the back of my ankle. I’m fine.”
Tennessee Forward Bashaara Graves
On the win:
“I think it’s a great win since we’ve been losing on the road. It’s mostly the fourth quarter, when Vandy made their run at the end and we bounced back and got stops when we needed to.”
On playing and winning close to home:
“I definitely think it does. A lot of my family gets to come every time we play here. It means a lot just playing back in Middle Tennessee and getting my family and my friends to be here to watch me play, because they don’t get to come up a lot to Knoxville.”
On forcing turnovers:
“I think we just came out and we attacked. We had a lot of good guard pressure that started with [Andraya Carter] and Te’a [Cooper] just getting on the ball and pressing also. Just making turnovers at the ball and attacking offensively.”