3 takeaways from Texas's narrow win vs. No. 17 Tennessee

Texas Women's Basketball hosted the #17 Tennessee Volunteers at the Moody Center tonight in a battle against the orange SEC teams. I expected a grudge match tonight, and I was 100 percent right. Both teams slugged it out in the first half of the game.

The Longhorns went into halftime with a five-point lead over the Volunteers. The Longhorns would come out on top with an 80-76 victory over the Volunteers. I'm sure Vic Schaefer was glad when the final horn went off at the end of the fourth quarter.

The Volunteers helped the Longhorns tonight. Even though they didn't win, the Volunteers made the Longhorns work for that win tonight. With LSU and South Carolina on the schedule this season, tonight felt like a scrimmage against one of those teams, with how tough the Longhorns played for forty minutes.

Best of luck to the Volunteers with the remaining games this season. Here are the three takeaways from tonight's win over the Volunteers.

Takeaways from Texas women's basketball's close victory over Tennessee: 3. Madison Booker leading the way

I don't know what South Carolina did to light a fire under Madison Booker. She had an outstanding performance against the Volunteers tonight. She led the Longhorns with 26 points. I mentioned this before: The final score of that game could have been different if Booker had a decent shooting performance. Tonight's version of Booker reminds me of last year's version, where she dominated Big 12 teams. Vic might want to send a fruit basket to Dawn Staley this weekend.

2. Dominated the boards

The Longhorns were very active on the boards tonight. They out-rebounded the Volunteers 39-24. This was a stat the Longhorns had to lead in if they wanted to slow down the Volunteers' offense. Longhorns forward Taylor Jones led the team in rebounds with 14.

That is how you will win basketball games in the SEC. Control the ball and limit the other team's possessions on offense. Let's give a round of applause to the Longhorns for controlling the glass tonight.

1. Have to work on limiting opponents three-pointers

While the Longhorns had a good game tonight, I must address the number of three-pointers made by the Volunteers. The Longhorns needed to do a better job of limiting those three-pointers tonight. The final score could have been more significant if the Longhorns had better defense on the perimeter. I don't want them to get in the habit of not defending the three-point line.

Overall, the Longhorns won a good game tonight. They hit the road to Oxford to take on the Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday afternoon.

Check out our other Texas Women's Basketball Articles