UT, though, remains in a stretch of playing nine out of 11 games on The Summitt between Nov. 25 and Jan. 5.
Coach Kellie Harper‘s squad enters the battle with the Golden Knights having won four of its last five contests, defeating Wright State the last time out on Sunday afternoon, 96-57, on The Summitt.ย The Lady Vols went into that match-up knowing they’d be without senior center Tamari Key for the rest of the season, after it was announced on Dec. 8 that testing revealed blood clots in her lungs.ย They did, however, see two other key players return to the lineup, as senior forward and leading scorer Rickea Jackson returned from missing two games due to coach’s decision and graduate forward Jasmine Franklin was back in action after being in concussion protocol in successive contests.
Tennessee continues to work its way back above .500 after a treacherous opening schedule featuring No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Indiana, No. 6 Virginia Tech, Nov. 10 UCLA and Nov. 23 Gonzaga gave it all it could handle while dealing with unavailable players that have resulted in six different starting lineup combinations and 10 total missed games. ย
After opening the year at 6-0, UCF has dropped its last two contests, falling 86-46 at Auburn on Dec. 3 and 63-56 to Seton Hall on Dec. 11. The Golden Knights are under the direction of Sytia Messer, a long-time member of Kim Mulkey’s staff at Baylor and then LSU.ย Messer came onboard in Orlando after Katie Abrahamson-Henderson departed to take over at Georgia.
UCF and UT face off for only the second time after meeting in Orlando last season on Nov. 12 in a game the Lady Vols claimed by a 49-41 count.
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