KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — #2 seed Tennessee continued its mastery in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament posting a 72-61 win over #15 Boise State on Saturday afternoon.
Junior Bashaara Graves led the Lady Vols with a career-high 24 points as she connected on 9-of-11 from the field. Senior Ariel Massengale tallied 18 points. The duo combined for 42 of Tennessee’s 72 points.
The Lady Vols (28-5 overall) are now 53-1 all-time in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament including 27-1 in the first round. Tennessee is perfect all-time in post-season play at Thompson-Boling Arena, moving to 55-0 at home with a 22-0 mark in first-round contests.
The eight-time national champion Lady Vols are the only program to play in all 34 NCAA Tournaments since the event was instituted in 1982. All-time, Tennessee has posted a 118-25 record in the NCAAs, the most wins for any program.
Tennessee will take on #10 seed Pitt (20-11), a 51-40 upset winner over #7 seed Chattanooga, on Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET. That game will air on ESPN2, WatchESPN and can be heard on the Lady Vol Network.
Mountain West champion Boise State (22-11) was led by Brooke Pahukoa, who tallied a season-high tying 22 points. Her three 3-pointers led the Broncos’ shooting from outside as they went 9-of-25 from 3-point range.
After a tight first half that saw five lead changes, Tennessee took control early in the second half. A Jordan Reynolds’ fastbreak layup, two minutes into the second half, pushed the Lady Vols lead to double-figures for the first time all game at 44-34.
The closest Boise would get for the remainder of the game was five points with less than three minutes to go. Tennessee’s lead bulged to 15 points, at 60-45, on a pair of free throws by Graves. She equaled her previous season-high of 22 with those foul shots coming with 8:22 left in the game. That finished an 11-2 run.
Boise State kept its upset hopes alive and crept within five points on a Camille Redmon free throw with 2:51 left in regulation, cutting the deficit to 63-58.
But Massengale and Graves dashed those hopes as Massengale connected on the Lady Vols’ first 3-pointer of the second half and Graves set her new career-high with a layup with 1:48 left in the game.
Andraya Carter nailed a 3-pointer with one minute left to finish a 8-0 run, which was the final knockout punch to the Broncos’ hopes, putting Tennessee ahead 71-58.
Tennessee dominated the glass, outrebounding the Broncos, 45-28, led by Cierra Burdick’s 11 boards. Jaime Nared added a career-high 10 rebounds. It marked the fourth time this season Tennessee had a pair of players with double-figure rebounds.
Boise’s leading rebounder was Shalen Shaw, who had six before fouling out. The Lady Vols held a 38-20 advantage on points in the paint led by Graves.
Tennessee’s 9-2 spurt to end of the first half helped the Lady Vols to a 39-32 halftime lead over the hot-shooting Broncos. Pahukoa connected on all seven of her first goal attempts including three 3-pointers to lead all first-half scorers with 18 points. Graves (12) and Massengale (10) combined for more than half of the Lady Vols’ first half points.
The Lady Vols outrebounded Boise State, 20-11, in the first half and outscored the Broncos 22-10 in the paint. Thanks to Pahukoa’s perfect half, the Broncos made 50 percent of their first-half shots (13-of-26). UT shot 48.5 over the first 20 minutes.