Tennessee is returning to the Sweet 16 for the 33rd time in 34 years of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The second-seeded Lady Vols (29-5) knocked off 10th-seeded Pitt, 77-67, on Monday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Lady Vols will take on #11 seed Gonzaga (25-7), an upset winner over #3 seed Oregon State, on Saturday, March 28 in Spokane, Washington, the Bulldogs' hometown. The game will take place at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
Tennessee remains perfect all-time in second-round games, moving to 27-0. In combined first and second-round games, the Lady Vols are 54-1 all-time. Tennessee is also a perfect in home NCAA Tournament games with a 56-0 mark all-time, that includes a 44-0 mark in first and second-round home games.
The Lady Vols finished the 2014-15 season a perfect 18-0 at Thompson-Boling Arena and have now won 22 home games in a row. The 18 wins set a Tennessee record for home wins in a season.
Junior Bashaara Graves had her second straight strong game with 21 points and a season-high 14 rebounds -- her eighth double-double of the season. That came on the heels of a career-high 24 points in the Lady Vols' first-round win over Boise State on Saturday. It was the first time Graves had back-to-back 20-point games.
Seniors Cierra Burdick (14 points and 10 rebounds) and Ariel Massengale (16 points and four assists) had strong games in their final college appearances in Knoxville. Sophomore Andraya Carter chipped in with 10.
The Lady Vols secured their ninth wire-to-wire win of the season. Pitt trailed by as many as 14 and made a late charge to cut their deficit to four points in the final minute.
Pitt (20-12) was led by Brianna Kiesel, who netted a game-high 32, including 24 in the second half. Kiesel's point total set a Pitt NCAA Tournament scoring record, breaking the mark of 31 by Shavonte Zellous set vs. Montana in 2009.
Yacine Diop added 18 rebounds and a team-high nine rebounds.
Tennessee blasted out to a 15-4 lead less than six minutes into the game as Graves scored seven consecutive points to wrap up an 11-0 run with5:22 elapsed. The Lady Vols led by at least six points for the remainder of the half. The took their first 12-point lead with seven minutes left in the half on a Burdick jumper to make it 29-17.
The Lady Vols held a 35-23 lead at halftime. Graves and Reynolds each tallied nine to lead Tennessee's scoring chart. Graves also had seven rebounds.
Pitt was held scoreless for the final 4:55 of the half as the Panthers shot 30.8 from the floor over the first 20 minutes.
Down 12 at halftime, Pitt scored the first nine points of the second half to cut their deficit to three at 35-32. The Lady Vols answered with five in a row to regain an eight-point lead.
Tennessee took a lead of 14 points at 52-38 on a 3-pointer by Jaime Nared with 11:39 left and regained a 13-point edge on a Massengale triple with 8:17 on the clock.
The Lady Vols held a double-figure lead until inside the final three minutes of the game. Kiesel's back-to-back layups cut the Panthers' deficit to six at 66-60 with 1:39 left in the game.
Twice in the final 38 seconds, Pitt got within four points, but Massengale (6-of-6) and Burdick were a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line in the final 28 seconds to seal the victory.
Monday's game was the final at Thompson-Boling Arena for the senior class of Burdick, Massengale and Isabelle Harrison, who sat out the game due to injury. The trio saluted the crowd following the final buzzer.