Dec. 21, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Hannah Tuomi had 14 points and nine rebounds and led five Vanderbilt players in double figures in an 86-29 victory over UT-Martin on Sunday.”We had an absolute balance tonight,” Melanie Balcomb, VU head coach, said. “The more offensive balance we have, the tougher we can guard with the same balance. And certainly the more balance we have, the more we can get to the basket.
“Teams know Christina (Wirth) and know her game, so they prepare for her, but everyone played well tonight.”
Wirth had 13 points, Merideth Marsh and Chanel Chisolm each had 12 and Jence Rhoads added a career-high 11 for the 20th-ranked Commodores, who had their most decisive victory of the season. Their previous high was a 42-point triumph over Eastern Kentucky (80-38) on Nov. 19.
Rhoads also had a career-high six steals.
Vanderbilt (10-2) allowed just nine field goals in 51 attempts (17.6 percent) and held UT-Martin scoreless for more than six minutes at the start of each half.
“Well, it’s like they say, defense wins games,” Tuomi noted. “Our work on defense in practice definitely helped us today and improving on defense is a major goal we had in mind today.”
UT-Martin (1-9) missed its first 11 field-goal attempts and did not score for the first 6:26. Alishia Glover got the Skyhawks’ first points with a pair of free throws, and Phyllisha Mitchell made the first basket with a put-back 8:07 after the opening tip.
Mitchell (12 points) and Glover (seven points) accounted for all but 10 of UT-Martin’s total.
