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Unbeaten Tennessee wins at Stanford, drops Cardinal to .500

TANFORD, Calif. -- No one who has watched this rivalry over most of the past three decades would have mistaken this game for the heavyweight battles of years past. Neither program is in that vaunted place at this moment in time.

But for the first time since most of the current Tennessee players were in elementary school, the Lady Vols walked out of Maples Pavilion with a win.

Seventh-ranked Tennessee was outrebounded for the first time all season but hit enough timely shots and stepped in enough passing lanes to nail down an 83-71 victory over No. 18 Stanford on Thursday to close the nonconference portion of the schedule for both teams.

For Tennessee, it has been a fruitful exercise. The Lady Vols are 12-0 for the first time since the 2005-06 season, when they started 18-0. That season ended with a loss in the Elite Eight, which was shocking at the time because of Tennessee's dominance in the game. An Elite Eight finish this season would point to a resurgent Lady Vols program ready to reassume its place among the national elite.

But Tennessee wants even more.

"This is a great win for this team," said Lady Vols coach Holly Warlick, who had never won at Stanford as a head coach. "This was a huge game on the road. People said we hadn't been tested on the road, but in Cancun we beat Marquette in overtime and Oklahoma State. ... This was big."

Warlick and senior Jaime Nared -- who finished with 28 points and seven steals, including a huge pick with 2:03 to go and the Cardinal having closed the margin to seven points -- used the same word to describe this Tennessee team: resilient.

"But at the end of the day, it's still December, and you don't win anything in December," said Nared, who's averaging a team-best 17.9 points per game. "For us to be 12-0 heading into the SEC, it's a great start. But there is so much basketball to go. And we are not relaxing. We are getting better."

Jaime Nared, left, led Tennessee with 28 points. The Lady Vols improved to 12-0 and won at Maples Pavilion for the first time since 2005. Courtesy Stanford Athletics

Freshman guard Evina Westbrook, who, like Nared, is an Oregon native, made the most of her West Coast appearance with 17 points. Mercedes Russell added 11 points and 10 rebounds. Tennessee forced 15 turnovers and scored 19 points off of those mistakes.

But the Lady Vols, who came into the game averaging 51.2 rebounds, were outrebounded 48-35 -- and 19-5 on the offensive glass.

Still, Tennessee held its poise as the young Cardinal cut the lead from 17 in the third quarter to six with 3:12 left in the game.

"Every time they made a run," Nared said, "we answered it."

Stanford -- which opens the Pac-12 schedule at home against No. 11 UCLA on Dec. 29 -- wrapped up a tough nonconference schedule with an uncharacteristic 6-6 record and two straight home losses.