If you felt compelled to single out a single player to blame for the loss to A & M, most would point at freshman point guard Evina Westbrook.She made too costly mistakes in the closing minutes; first fouling an Aggie at 3-point range, giving her the chance to shoot three free throws, which she shot and made. Of course, if one or two of those hadn’t gone in, Danni Williams, the Texas shooter, would have been the goat instead of Westbrook. It’s also possible she could have made a 3 point shot from where she was fouled, in Westbrook hadn’t been guarding her closely. Seconds later, on what turned out to be the Lady Vols last possession, Westbrook’s pass to Nared was just out of reach, for a turnover. Final score Texas A&M 79, Tennessee 76. In overtime.
Westbrook, understandably, felt terrible and was down after the loss. Her teammates, to their credit, all cared more about supporting their teammate than they did about pointing fingers. Westbrook is one of many players on this team in their first season; they’re all going to make mistakes, sometimes critical ones. Even veteran players aren’t immune; you just want to see improvement game by game and year by year. The most important thing is to stick together. Play together. Grow and get better together, which is the path they appear to be on. The potential for greatness is there. Teams -real teams- win championships.
In the first minute of the South Carolina game, Evina threw another errant pass, and I thought to myself, crap, she’s got the shakes after the A & M game. It’s in her head now. But the errant pass proved an anomaly. The team, upset by Texas A & M, upset South Carolina in turn in an away game, and Westbrook had a good game, much praised by the broadcast team for her maturity and skills at such a young age. Granted, South Carolina didn’t have their star forward A’ja Wilson, and whether or not Tennessee will be able to beat them with all cylinders firing is a question that now has to wait for the SEC tournament, or the NCAA tournament, or just go unanswered. But as Gertrude Stein famously never said, a win is a win is a win. Tennessee 86, South Carolina 70.
This is the middle of a tough stretch; Notre Dame away on Thursday night, then Mississippi State in Thompson-Boling on Sunday. Another loss or the loss of both games is a definite possibility, but as long as the urge to point fingers is kept at bay, and they stay together, this team should still be in the mix in the post season.
Hoops and Diamonds 