Jan. 17, 2018
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kayla Overbeck knows first-hand how much work the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team puts in during practice. So after Monday’s 70-55 win over Kentucky – the Commodores’ first SEC victory of the season – Vanderbilt’s sophomore forward could barely hide her smile.
In that moment, memories of that hard work flashed before Overbeck’s eyes.
“It’s finally paying off,” Overbeck said. “Finally.”
Vanderbilt had begun its season 4-14 and 0-4 in SEC play before toppling the visiting Wildcats at Memorial Gym. In the program’s first home win over Kentucky since the 2009-10 season, the Dores looked sharp on both ends of the floor. They outrebounded Kentucky 42-31, dished out 17 assists and kept their foot on the gas following a 29-20 lead at halftime.
In short, the Commodores put together their most complete performance of the season against an SEC team. That was a sight for sore eyes for head coach Stephanie White.
“This is a good opportunity for them to gain some confidence and see that their progress is really starting to show,” White said. “Sometimes, when you’re struggling, its hard to see the little bits of progress that’s happening… In this league, you take it any way you can get it. That’s what it’s going to have to be for us. We’re going to have to grind it out.”
The win over Kentucky was not the first sign of life from Vanderbilt. On Jan. 7, it stood toe-to-toe with No. 7 Tennessee for 35 minutes before a 10-0 Lady Vols’ run cemented a loss in the final five minutes. In an 81-70 loss against No 12 Missouri on Jan. 11, Vanderbilt trailed by as many as 28 points but ended the game on a 12-2 run, slicing the final margin to just 11.
But the Commodores finally put the pieces together against Kentucky. Amid an injury-plagued season, Overbeck scored a season-high 19 points on 6-7 shooting. Sophomore guard Cierra Walker continued her shooting tear by hitting 5-7 from 3-point land; she is now 15-20 from downtown in her last three games. Freshman forward Autumn Newby flirted with a double-double with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Overbeck said the Dores can’t discount the importance of momentum in the SEC.
“This definitely helps us moving forward,” Overbeck said. “We’ve been battling really hard in practice, and some games just weren’t going our way. Finally, we hit where we want to be. That’s definitely going to help us going forward in the SEC.”
White, of course, isn’t about to quit working. Vanderbilt remains 1-4 in the SEC with No. 10 South Carolina – the defending NCAA champions – coming to town on Thursday (7 p.m. CT on SEC Network). Plus, the Dores have plenty to improve on, such as their 19 turnovers against Kentucky.
Now White expects to learn more about her team Thursday against the Gamecocks.
“For us, we’ve just got to be focused on putting one foot in front of the other,” White said. “We’ve got to be focused on putting one brick on top of the other brick and continuing to move forward and get better.”
Zac Ellis is the Writer and Digital Media Editor for Vanderbilt Athletics.