It seemed things would be different as Georgia’s women’s basketball team ran onto the court to start the second half.

After falling eight points behind the Tennessee Lady Volunteers midway through the first half, the No. 17 Lady Dogs roared back to close the gap to one at the break.

Three minutes after returning to the court, the game was gone and Georgia (16-6, 5-4 SEC) was on its way to another loss to Tennessee, taken down by 67-50 at home.

ANDY LANDERS

The No. 7 Lady Vols (16-5, 7-1) took the game away from the Lady Dogs with a 11-0 run in the first 3:41 of the second half after Georgia had positioned itself well for a potential upset.

“It seemed like we went back out with all of a sudden no energy,” Georgia head coach Andy Landers said. ”I think what happens [is] they go out there… standing around, walking around. The readiness was missing — that’s the piece that was missing. Inbounds plays, they’re standing up, walking around, mentally not in it.”

Georgia struggled to stop Lady Vols forward Shekinna Stricklen, who scored six points in the second period, all of them coming during the early run.

Stricklen finished with a game-high 24 points.

“It was difficult because we ended the [first] half really well,” senior guard Meredith Mitchell said. “We cut the lead to one and we were feeling good and we just came out and they got easy shots.”

Mitchell scored the Lady Dogs first points of the half and went on to have a team-high 13 points, with seven coming in the second half.

After the Lady Volunteers run gave them a 12-point lead, junior forward Jasmine Hassell said the Lady Dogs began to suffer psychologically.

“I think we kind of held our heads down,” Hassell said. “We started missing shots and I think that we needed to find a way to continue to keep playing even though they get a run and just keep fighting.”

Landers said Tennessee’s second half offense was the main reason they were able to pull away.

“You got to give Tennessee credit. They ran some stuff early in the second half, kind of isolated Stricklen on a drive or two and got her to the basket,” Landers said. “You’re talking about a 100 percent shot — the lay-up. They got a couple of those, [so] we go zone, try to take away the drive they hit a three and all of a sudden it’s [a 10-point lead].”

The Lady Dogs’ attempt to get back into the game was hampered by not capitalizing on the shots their offense created.

After shooting 35 percent from the floor in the first half, the Lady Dogs saw that percentage drop to only 20 percent in the second half as they went 5-for-25.

“I think when they miss shots they go back on the defensive end and their whole demeanor looked not good,” Landers said. “All of a sudden the floodgates fly open, because now not only are you not making shots, you’re giving up shots, and that’s how you get behind.”

Georgia refused to take bad shots, however, as they continued to run an effective offense.

The players said their inability to hit the good shots they created for themselves did affect them.

“It is frustrating after shooting well in the first half and not being able to do so the second half,” sophomore guard Khaalidah Miller said.

“I would say in the second half they got more aggressive defensively,” Miller said. “The first half, it wasn’t so tough to get shots off, it was [just] a matter of making shots. I think the second half we missed a lot more shots.”

Mitchell, however, preferred to give Tennessee’s defense the credit for Georgia’s struggles.

“I do give them credit for their defense,” she said. “They’re big [and] they’re long so it’s kind of distracting and makes you lose your focus, but we definitely should have knocked down more shots. We had a chance to win that game definitely.”