Box Score KNOXVILLE, TENN. – Tennessee outscored Kentucky 48-20 in the second half to overcome a 17-point second-quarter deficit and take an 87-69 victory against the Wildcats in front of a season-high crowd of 8,823 in Food City Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Lady Vols, who won their fifth-straight contest and ended UK’s four-game streak, hit 32 of 60 attempts for a season-best field goal percentage of 53.3 on the day. The Big Orange, meanwhile, held Kentucky to 38.2 percent, including an icy 23.5-percent rate (8-34) in the second half.
Fifth-year senior Rickea Jackson led UT (9-5, 2-0 SEC) with 27 points, and senior Jewel Spear poured in a season-high 21 points. Fifth-year senior Jasmine Powell also had a productive outing, racking up nine points, seven rebounds and nine assists.
Kentucky (8-8, 1-1 SEC) was led by Eniya Russell, who finished with 16 points and Ajae Petty who posted a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Maddie Scherr and Saniah Tyler were also in double figures with 13 and 10, respectively.
Tennessee won the jump and wasted no time getting on the board, with Powell finding Karoline Striplin wide open under the basket for an easy layup 10 seconds into play. Scherr responded with a long-range jumper for UK, and Brooklynn Miles followed it up with a steal and a layup on the inbound play, putting Kentucky on top by the 8:50 mark. Sara Puckett tied it up at four on the next possession, but the Wildcats scrapped back to lead 14-8 with 6:13 to go in the first. UK maintained that advantage until Striplin drained a jumper two minutes later to inch UT within four at 18-14. That score would hold through the buzzer as both teams remained scoreless for the final four minutes of the first.
Tess Darby came up with the steal and found Jackson on the fast break to start the second period, and Kaiya Wynn narrowed the gap to one with a free throw, but back-to-back treys had UK ahead by five with 8:06 to go in the half. Jackson responded with a three for UT on the other end, but a 16-2 UK run pushed the Wildcats on top by a 40-24 count by the 4:47 mark. Jillian Hollingshead hit a short jumper to end the skid for Tennessee, and with 4:02 to play, Spear hit a jumper to tally the first of her 11 second-quarter points as UT outscored UK 13-7 over the closing minutes to set the halftime score at 49-39.
Kentucky notched the first bucket of the third quarter in the form of a Petty layup, but UT whittled the…
The Lady Vols, who won their fifth-straight contest and ended UK’s four-game streak, hit 32 of 60 attempts for a season-best field goal percentage of 53.3 on the day. The Big Orange, meanwhile, held Kentucky to 38.2 percent, including an icy 23.5-percent rate (8-34) in the second half.
Fifth-year senior Rickea Jackson led UT (9-5, 2-0 SEC) with 27 points, and senior Jewel Spear poured in a season-high 21 points. Fifth-year senior Jasmine Powell also had a productive outing, racking up nine points, seven rebounds and nine assists.
Kentucky (8-8, 1-1 SEC) was led by Eniya Russell, who finished with 16 points and Ajae Petty who posted a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Maddie Scherr and Saniah Tyler were also in double figures with 13 and 10, respectively.
Tennessee won the jump and wasted no time getting on the board, with Powell finding Karoline Striplin wide open under the basket for an easy layup 10 seconds into play. Scherr responded with a long-range jumper for UK, and Brooklynn Miles followed it up with a steal and a layup on the inbound play, putting Kentucky on top by the 8:50 mark. Sara Puckett tied it up at four on the next possession, but the Wildcats scrapped back to lead 14-8 with 6:13 to go in the first. UK maintained that advantage until Striplin drained a jumper two minutes later to inch UT within four at 18-14. That score would hold through the buzzer as both teams remained scoreless for the final four minutes of the first.
Tess Darby came up with the steal and found Jackson on the fast break to start the second period, and Kaiya Wynn narrowed the gap to one with a free throw, but back-to-back treys had UK ahead by five with 8:06 to go in the half. Jackson responded with a three for UT on the other end, but a 16-2 UK run pushed the Wildcats on top by a 40-24 count by the 4:47 mark. Jillian Hollingshead hit a short jumper to end the skid for Tennessee, and with 4:02 to play, Spear hit a jumper to tally the first of her 11 second-quarter points as UT outscored UK 13-7 over the closing minutes to set the halftime score at 49-39.
Kentucky notched the first bucket of the third quarter in the form of a Petty layup, but UT whittled the…
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