Tennessee jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it against a pesky Florida team in a quarterfinal matchup at the 2013 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, held at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia.
The final score may have been 82-73, but there were plenty of nervous moments for the predominately orange pom pom waving crowd.
"We wanted to push the ball... we wanted a fast-tempo game," said Tennessee head coacj Holly Warlick in the post game press conference.
Tennessee is the top seed in the 13 team tournament by virtue of winning the SEC regular season championship for the 17th time in school history. It's the first SEC Tournament being played without Pat Summitt at the helm of the Lady Volunteers in a couple generations as she retired at the end of the 2012 campaign.
Florida, the 9th seed, defeated Arkansas in a second round game on Thursday to set up the encounter with the Lady Volunteers.
Meighan Simmons led the Lady Volunteers with 20 points.
Florida made a last minute run, getting within six points with 31.7 seconds remaining, and getting the ball after missed free throws by Tennessee senior Tabe Spani, but a missed shot and a turnover sealed the deal for the team wearing orange.
Tennessee next plays the winner of South Carolina and Texas A&M.
The SEC Women's Tourney wraps up on Sunday night in Duluth at the Gwinnett Arena.
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