Liberty Women’s Basketball Falls To University of Tennessee 109-93

The Liberty University Women’s Basketball team took on the Southeastern Conference No. 2 ranked University of Tennessee in Knoxville at the Food City Center at noon Nov. 16 where they fell 109-93.

Redshirt senior center Bella Smuda won the jump ball at the beginning, giving Liberty the advantage as they shot an early three but missed. UT rebounded the ball and drove it up the court to put three points on the board early on.

The Lady Flames tried to respond, but the Lady Volunteers rebounded another shot, furthering its lead in the first quarter. 

UT capitalized on this play and added another basket to bring its lead to 8-0. Liberty scored when senior guard Jordan Hodges passed the ball to Smuda. Smuda then forced her way into the paint for a layup, being fouled in the process, and managed to score. She made her first free throw and brought Liberty up to three points. Despite more scoring attempts by Liberty, UT was up 34-15 by the end of the first quarter.

“That first quarter was a rough quarter for us,” Head Coach Carey Green said after the game.

The Lady Flames battled, but the Lady Volunteer’s heavy defense and pressure froze them at 25 points on the board, while the Lady Volunteers extended their lead to 55, creating a 30-point deficit for the Lady Flames. 

Liberty’s momentum shifted when Smuda scored off a layup, prompting the Lady Flames to hold UT at 60 as they worked to shorten their now 24-point deficit. The Lady Flames now had 36 points to UT’s 60. By the end of the second quarter, Liberty had tightened the point gap and moved up to 43 points to UT’s 64.

“I think we did a good job bouncing back in the second, third and fourth quarter,” Smuda said postgame. “I thought we did a good job handling the pressure and calming down and taking a breath. I’m proud that we were able to fight back and not give up.”

At the start of the third quarter, the Lady Volunteers hit an early 3-pointer, their eighth triple of the day, but the Lady Flames were not deterred. Hodges and freshman forward Elisabeth Aegisdottir broke UT’s pressure, getting the ball to sophomore guard Asia Boone, who responded with a 3-pointer of her own.  By the end of the quarter, UT was still leading 89-68, but Liberty was slowly tearing apart UT’s point cushion.

The final quarter saw UT break the 100-point barrier while Liberty trailed by 16 points. The Lady Flames closed the gap, but the Lady Volunteers pulled away and held the ball for most of the remaining minutes. As the clock hit zero, UT walked off the court in a 109-93 victory. 

“You can win all your nonconference games, but when you get in conference, they know your personnel, plays, and it’s more of a grind,” Green said. “We want to be the top dog or champion, but we still got a lot of games. We are trying to define ourselves, and we are going to work on it.” 

The Lady Flames return after an eight-day hiatus to take on Townson University Nov. 24 at 1 p.m. in Townson, Maryland.

Warden is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.