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What Shea Ralph said about Justine Pissott’s first game against Tennessee after transfer

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What Shea Ralph said about Justine Pissott’s first game against Tennessee after transfer


For Justine Pissott, Sunday marked her first return to Knoxville since she announced her transfer from Tennessee to Vanderbilt women’s basketball.

Pissott, the first player to ever transfer from the Lady Vols to the Commodores, played two games and left Tennessee after one season.

While she was a little-used bench player there, she was in the starting lineup for Sunday’s 73-64 Vanderbilt loss, even drawing boos from the Thompson-Boling Arena crowd when she was introduced.

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Pissott opened each half with a 3-pointer, ultimately scoring nine points on 3-for-9 shooting and had three rebounds. She has started 17 of 20 games for the Commodores (17-3, 4-2 SEC) as they push to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade.

“I know it wasn’t easy for her,” Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph said in the postgame news conference. “But I thought that she did some really great things today and she battled through and she fought and I also think the past is the past. . . .

“She’s here with us now. She’s playing in a gym that she used to practice in a lot and play in a lot. But this isn’t her school anymore. And I wanted her to look at it as a growing opportunity, where I’m sure she struggled at some points. But we’re really happy to have her . . . I was really really proud of her.”

At Tennessee in 2022-23, Pissott played seven minutes per game, averaging two points and one rebound and shooting 26% from beyond the arc. At Vanderbilt, she is averaging 21 minutes with seven points and two rebounds per game, shooting 36% from 3.

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She had announced her transfer in May.

THE GAME Vanderbilt women’s basketball can’t counter late run in loss to Tennessee Lady Vols

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.





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Tennessee

RTI Reaction: Tennessee Comes From Behind to Win Double Overtime Thriller Against Texas A&M | Rocky Top Insider

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RTI Reaction: Tennessee Comes From Behind to Win Double Overtime Thriller Against Texas A&M | Rocky Top Insider


Tennessee Basketball
Photo via Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee Basketball fought from behind to earn an 87-82 win over Texas A&M in double overtime on Tuesday night in Knoxville. The Vols trailed for much of the game from the jump, but Tennessee pushed forward and found a way to win in front of its home fans in the Food City Center.

Tennessee spent more than 35 minutes trailing in that game, with much of that coming in consecutive minutes from the opening whistle. The Vols didn’t take the lead until the 5:29 mark in the second half, and still had to fight off a few Aggie runs in order to push the game into extra time. Tennessee and Texas A&M were tied at 71 at the end of regulation and tied at 75 after the first overtime, but the Vols outscored the Aggies by five in the final five minutes to pick up the win.

Tennessee had five double-digit scorers on Tuesday night, led by Nate Ament’s 23 points. The freshman forward also went 9-for-11 from the free-throw line with some clutch makes in the final stretch. Tennessee also outrebounded A&M 60 to 35 during the contest. It wasn’t always pretty, but it’s chalked up as a W in the record book.

After the game, RTI’s Ryan Schumpert and Ric Butler discussed their reactions to the Vols’ win on the RTI postgame show. The guys talked about Tennessee’s slow start, Ament’s big scoring night, impact players, and much more.

More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways As Tennessee Basketball Finds Away Against Texas A&M

Check out the RTI: Reaction show below:

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RTI: Reaction



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Authorities asking for help with crash investigation in Washington County, Tennessee

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Authorities asking for help with crash investigation in Washington County, Tennessee


Authorities in Washington County, Tennessee, are asking for the public’s help following a crash that happened last month.

The crash took place shortly before 8 a.m. on December 30 in the 200 block of Liberty Hill Road.

Authorities are encouraging anyone with security cameras along that road to view their footage from that morning and look for a spray painted, black 2001 Chevrolet Silverado.

Anyone with information is asked to call (423) 788-1414. Folks can also report information anonymously via Tip411 at wcso.net.

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Tennessee bill rekindles debate over prayer in public schools

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Tennessee bill rekindles debate over prayer in public schools


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Prayer in public schools has been debated for generations, not over whether students may pray, but over how far government should go in regulating religion in the classroom.

The longstanding question is resurfacing at the Tennessee State Capitol, where Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso has introduced legislation challenging the modern interpretation of the separation of church and state.

Bulso’s bill argues that the principle of separation has drifted from its original intent and now restricts religious expression rather than protecting it. Supporters of the proposal said the result is not neutrality, but discrimination, treating religion as something to be excluded from public life instead of being accommodated.

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“It’s pushing the envelope,” said David Hudson, a constitutional law professor at Belmont University. “He’s going farther than that by suggesting the entire body of Supreme Court decisions after 1947 interpreting the Establishment Clause is wrong.”

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. Courts have long interpreted that language as limiting government involvement in religion while still allowing individuals to freely practice faith.

Supporters of Bulso’s bill argue that recent applications of that principle have gone too far, creating an environment where religious expression is discouraged in public schools.

Opponents disagree, saying the Constitution requires government neutrality, particularly in a religiously diverse society.

“In a pluralistic country, you cannot have one-size-fits-all prayer,” Hudson said. “That’s part of why the separation exists.”

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House Democrats echoed that argument, pointing to what they say is already happening in Tennessee schools. In a statement to News 2, Senate Democratic Caucus Press Secretary Brandon Puttbrese said:

Tennessee public school students are already free to pray and study the Bible. No one is stopping them. In fact, there are student-led Bible study clubs already happening in the district he represents.

Instead of chasing problems that don’t exist, a better use of the legislature’s precious time would be to address the K-12 school funding crisis. Tennessee ranks 47th in public school student spending. That’s a real problem.

⏩ Read today’s top stories on wkrn.com

Newer religion-in-education cases have worked their way through the courts. Hudson said the bill may be designed to test how far that shift could go.

“It may be trying to introduce something that, if passed, is challenged,” he said. “And that would force courts to deal with recent Supreme Court precedent that has lowered the church-state separation barrier.”

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Lawmakers return to session on Tuesday. For the bill to become law, it must be referred to committee, pass hearings and votes in both the Tennessee House and Senate, and ultimately signed by the governor.



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