The women’s basketball team routed the Auburn Tigers 80-45 before a home crowd of more than 3,500 at Memorial Gym Sunday.
The win marks the fourth straight win for the team, currently ranked 14th in the nation by The Associated Press, and came on the heels of a NCAA record-setting win over Alabama last week.
“I like when the ball goes in. … I’ve always had that problem,” said coach Melanie Balcomb.
The team shot 59 percent from the field and 56 percent from the 3-point line, something Balcomb said the team is continuing to work on.
“We did extra shooting yesterday. … I told my staff, I just don’t feel like we’re shooting well, can we do extra shooting? I think they thought I was crazy.”
The extra effort is paying off, though, for the Commodores who, for the second straight game, led by more than 15 before their opponent got on the board.
“We talked about it after (the loss to) Tennessee and really made a point of emphasizing it in practice,” Balcomb said about working hard for an early lead. “The players are seeing that it makes a big difference. We were struggling in a lot of games because we were always having to come from behind. … We were off to poor starts. That is one of the things that we have worked a lot on, and now they see the positive results. It has made a big difference in how we’ve been able to put people away early.”
Vanderbilt had a total of 22 assists in the game and shot extremely well from the 3-point line early.
“One of the keys early on is not taking the first shot, but taking the best shot in the first four minutes … really passing the ball off and making their defense play. Our shot selection was really good in those first four minutes,” Balcomb said.
Sophomore Christine Wirth, and seniors Dee Davis and Caroline Williams all sank 3-pointers in the first few minutes of play. Inside the paint, 6-foot-4 junior Liz Sherwood, the team’s reserve center, dominated Auburn with her physicality.
“Sherwood is a nice player. The thing that’s so good about her is she buries you right under the basket. When she gets the ball her head is in the basket,” said Auburn head coach Nell Fortner. “Vanderbilt is a good team; they have really good players.” Sherwood scored 10 straight in the first half and finished with a total of 14 points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Carla Thomas led the team in scoring with 15 points; Caroline Williams scored 14.
“We come out with this mentality like we’re going to take these four minutes and play as hard as we can,” said guard Jennifer Risper after the game. “We practice hard before the games. We just try to focus on ourselves and not what they’re doing.”
The lopsided box score didn’t come from offensive production only. Team defense was crucial in holding the Tigers to a mere 16 points in the first half. Risper had three steals and seven defensive rebounds in the game.
The Vanderbilt women capitalized on nearly every Auburn mistake and showed poise on defense despite not playing for a week and having three days off during the bye week.
“The No. 1 key was to defend them one-on-one. (Auburn) does not average a lot of assists; they like to play one-on-one basketball,” Balcomb said. “We wanted to take pride in our one-on-one defense.”
In the last few minutes of the game, the majority of the starters took a seat to their younger counterparts. Every player on the roster made a field goal attempt, and all but one recorded a basket. Thomas said she is happy for her young teammates’ success in the game.
“You can step up and work as hard as you can because you know the bench is not going to fall off,” she said. “In fact, it’s going to get better and they’re going to keep up the same intensity that the starters have.”
The team will now prepare to head to Starkville, Miss., Thursday to take on the Lady Bulldogs. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. CT.
