Cierra Burdick posted a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, Isabelle Harrison scored 14 points and the No. 11/13 Lady Vols held on for a 54-51 win over Wichita State on Tuesday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee (8-2) survived the night on Burdick's rebounding and Harrison's play in the paint. Wichita State (6-3) put up a great fight in Lady Vol homecomings for head coach Jody Adams and assistant coach Bridgette Gordon.
Burdick was 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line for her 10 points. Her 17 boards were the most by a Lady Vol since Harrison and Bashaara Graves hauled down 18 each against Georgia Tech on Nov. 17, 2013. Harrison was 7-of-11 and finished with 14 points and nine boards. Freshman Alexa Middleton provided 10 points off 4-of-4 shooting off the bench.
Alex Harden scored a game-high 19 points for the Shockers and also corralled eight rebounds. Alie Decker had 17 points and was deadly from long distance, going 5-of-8 from beyond the arc.
The game ended with a thrilling final minute. Harrison made a layup with 38 seconds left to push the Lady Vols' lead to 52-48. Kesley Jacobs answered at the other end of the floor with a 3-pointer from the corner to pull Wichita State to within one point with 24 seconds remaining. Ariel Massengale made two big free throws with 5.1 seconds on the clock to put Tennessee's lead back to three at 54-51.
The Lady Vols built a 40-30 lead with a 9-2 run over the first eight minutes of the second half. Wichita State continued to keep pace with Tennessee, staying within three possessions for the final 11 minutes of the game. With under three minutes remaining, Harden scored five-straight points to pull the Shockers to within 50-48.
The first half featured exciting play with six lead changes as Tennessee took a 31-28 lead into halftime. Both teams shot 41 percent from the floor in the first half, which ended in thrilling fashion. Middleton hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 10 seconds left, but Wichita immediately advanced the ball to the other end and Alex Harden hit a trey from the right wing to cut the Lady Vols halftime lead to three.
Cierra Burdick scored eight first-half points with her mid-range shooting and dominated the boards with 10 rebounds. Middleton had nine points by halftime and Harrison had eight points and five points.
The teams stayed neck-and-neck through the first eight minutes of the game until Jamilah Bonner and Decker hit-back-to-back 3-pointers to give Wichita State a 16-12 lead by the second media timeout.
UT had its seventh different starting lineup of the season with Burdick, Andraya Carter, Graves, Harrison and Jordan Reynolds getting the nod.
Tennessee next hosts No. 7 Stanford on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 1 p.m. ETon SEC Network.