KNOXVILLE – Tennessee’s Rennia Davis reached 1,000 career points Wednesday night and the achievement was hardly a stretch.
Teammate Jazmine Massengill performed the hard part, flipping a pass over her shoulder and over a Colorado State defender. All Davis had to do was catch and convert a layup during the third quarter of the Lady Vols’ 79-41 women’s basketball victory.
The easy basket, which was part of Davis’ game-high 23 points, belied the scope of her career achievement. At least that was UT coach Kellie Harper’s opinion.“It’s a big deal to reach a big milestone at a program with this tradition,” she said.
The junior forward became the 46th Lady Vol to reach the scoring mark. She’s on pace to become the 24th UT player to average double-figure scoring for three seasons. Only 12 players have done it for their entire career.
“I think each game requires something different out of me,” she said.In this case, she also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out four assists before a crowd of 7,024 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Furthermore, she gave slumping teammate Jordan Horston a pep talk at some point beforehand and the freshman guard responded with a personal-best 14 rebounds to go with her 10 points and seven assists. It was Horston’s best scoring game in three weeks.
“I came out not even worried about what my offense was going to look like,” she said.No. 23 Tennessee (8-1) bounced back from its offensive struggles in Sunday’s 66-60 loss to Texas by shooting nearly 51 percent from the floor (31 for 61) against the Rams. After a 6-16 shooting start through the first quarter, the Lady Vols shot 55.5 percent from the floor thereafter.
“They were working really hard to execute our offense the way we practiced after the Texas game,” Harper said.Massengill exemplified UT’s performance. Colorado State (5-6) essentially didn’t guard the sophomore guard from Chattanooga. After an 0-for-3 start, she settled in to score a career-high 16 points, shooting 7 for 12 from the floor. Five of her baskets came on mid-range jumpers.
After overcoming her start, Harper said that Massengill, “played the way she wanted to play and not the way they wanted her to play.”
Colorado State wanted to make 3-pointers as well. The Rams were averaged about eight per game along with 22 attempts. They reached the latter total by the second quarter and just kept firing, eventually finishing 8 for 44 (18.2 percent) from long range.
“We were fairly wide open (early) … then it kind of snowballed,” Colorado State coach Ryun Williams said. “We needed a few to go in early to be contagious. It was contagious in the wrong way.”
In other developments:– The players spoke in hushed tones about dealing with Harper after Sunday’s loss. She seemed surprised by their reaction but also pleased.
“Good,” Harper said. “That makes me happy. I’m going to sleep good tonight.”
– Guard Zaay Green, who is sidelined for the season with a knee injury, was away Wednesday, attending a family funeral.
– Forward Jaiden McCoy, who missed four games this season with a fractured hand, left Wednesday’s game after suffering a facial cut.
– Tennessee grabbed a season-high 57 rebounds and had a 57-24 advantage.
– The Lady Vols’ next game is at No. 1 Stanford on Dec. 18.
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri who covered University of Tennessee athletics for the Knoxville News Sentinel from 1988-2019. He may be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com