March 1, 2017
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Vanderbilt wasn’t able to stage a lengthy trip to the SEC Women’s Tournament under first-year head coach Stephanie White. The No. 13-seed Commodores (14-16) fell behind early against No. 12-seed Alabama (18-12) and could not recover, losing 77-57 in the first round.
Let’s clean the glass from Vanderbilt’s tourney loss:
THE SKINNY: Alabama started the game hot from the floor, building an early 12-6 lead thanks to in part to a pair of 3-pointers from Jordan Lewis. Vanderbilt trailed, 21-15, after one quarter, but the Crimson Tide lead ballooned in the next period. Alabama went into halftime up 42-30 despite 16 first-half points from Vanderbilt’s Rachel Bell. In the third quarter, a pair of key runs pushed ‘Bama out front, 60-42, ahead of the final 10 minutes. Vanderbilt wasn’t able to muster a rally from there.
TURNING POINT: Vanderbilt began the second half trailing by 12 and desperately in need of a spark to turn things around. Instead, Alabama came out with more energy. The Crimson Tide reeled off a quick 6-0 run to inflate their lead to 48-30, forcing a timeout from Stephanie White. ‘Bama maintained control from that point forward.
IMPACT PLAYER: Shaquera Wade. The sophomore paced the Crimson Tide with 21 points, chipping in four boards and four assists along the way. Wade shot 8-12 from the floor and managed to stay out of foul trouble for the entire game.
STARTLING STAT: 26.8 – Vanderbilt’s shooting percentage without Rachel Bell. The junior saved her best performance for last by notching a career-high 31 points on 12-20 shooting. But Bell’s efforts carried the load for the Commodores; without Bell, the rest of the roster shot 11-41 from the field, or 26.8 percent. No other Vanderbilt player scored in double-digits.
WHAT IT MEANS: Vanderbilt finishes its first season under Stephanie White with a 14-16 record.
QUOTABLE: “You just can’t show up at tournament time and expect to turn on the lights. For whatever reason, we weren’t ready… We have continued to have problems with length and athleticism when it comes to our passing. At times, it seemed like we’re about two seconds too late in making our decisions.” -Vanderbilt head coach Stephanie White