Greenville, SC – No. 5 seed Tennessee Lady Vols basketball continued to display its strength down the stretch this season, rolling past No. 4 seed Alabama, 83-61, on Friday afternoon and advancing to the semifinals of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
The Lady Vols, who led 19-14 after the first quarter, improved their overall record to 19-11 this season and upped their mark in SEC quarterfinal round action to 37-7 all-time by outscoring the Crimson Tide (23-10) by a 23-15 count in the second stanza and a 26-15 margin in the third frame to turn the game into a blowout. The victory avenged a 72-56 loss to UA in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 8.
UT senior guard Jewel Spear turned in a stellar performance, connecting on eight of 11 field goal attempts, including a 6-of-6, season-best day beyond the arc, to lead all scorers with 24 points. Fifth-year forward Rickea Jackson came up a rebound shy of a double-double, turning in a 22-point, nine-rebound effort, while junior forward Sara Puckett was in double figures for the second day in a row with 10 points to go along with seven boards.
Alabama had two scoring in double figures, with Sarah Ashlee Barker leading the way with 17 and Loyal McQueen adding 15.
Tennessee jumped out to a 6-0 lead by the 6:35 mark, on the strength of layups by Spear, Puckett and Jasmine Powell.
Alabama answered with a Barker three with 6:09 left before the UT Lady Vols moved ahead 10-5 with 5:08 remaining on buckets from Tamari Key and Jackson After each Big Orange starter had contributed two points to open the game, a McQueen jumper sent Bama into the media break at the 4:42 mark trailing UT, 10-8. Tennessee came out of the timeout firing, building its lead back to five, 17-12, at the 2:34 mark on a pair of Jackson jumpers that sandwiched a Spear three.
Puckett added a layup with 1:04 left to end the opening quarter with her team on top, 19-14.
After Essence Cody hit a free throw to open the second stanza for Alabama, Jackson made a pair of charity tosses as a result of a technical assessed to the Tide bench to extend the UT lead to six, 21-15, at the 9:01 mark.
After UA responded with a bucket, Jillian Hollingshead scored on a layup to make the edge six again at 23-17 with 7:54 to go. Karly Weathers hit a trey from the top of the key to cut the gap to three for Bama, 23-20, but a pair of Spear threes extended UT’s advantage to seven, 29-22, with 5:01 to go in the half.
Following a media timeout, a Spear pull-up jumper and a Kaiya Wynn layup built Tennessee’s cushion to 11, 33-22, with 3:06 remaining in the quarter. Following a McQueen layup with 2:34 left, a Jackson score in the paint and another Spear three pushed Tennessee up by 14, 38-24, with 1:33 remaining.
Back-to-back layups by Jackson and Puckett boosted the advantage to 15 with 32 ticks left, 42-27, before a Bama layup by McQueen sent the Lady Vols into the locker room with a 42-29 cushion at the half.
Tennessee scored first in the second half and pushed its lead back to 15, 44-29, just 10 seconds into the third on a Jackson jumper, forcing a Tide timeout. Following the break, Key went to work inside, hitting three consecutive layups to keep her team up 17, 50-33, at the 7:25 mark.
Alabama began to find its rhythm in the middle of the period, but UT continued to stave off the Tide with a Jackson jumper and a Hollingshead put-back to send their team into the 4:13 media timeout with a 54-39 advantage. Following an exchange of scoring out of the break, a Jackson jumper and Spear’s fifth three of the day forced UA to call another timeout with 2:26 go and UT holding its largest lead at 61-42.
Tennessee continued to roll at the beginning of the fourth quarter, as a Powell three-pointer pushed the lead to a high of 27, 73-46, by the 7:55 mark. Head coach Kellie Harper soon began to sub out her starters, getting the bench players some run time and allowing her front-liners to try and save their legs for the next round.
Fear Da Spear
Jewel Spear put on a show vs. Alabama, tallying a team-high 24 points and notching a perfect 6-of-6 mark from deep, hitting her season high in threes and tying for the 11th-most in a game in UT history. She also surpassed 30 treys in her career, moving her total to 304.
It also marked the first time anyone in SEC Women’s Tournament history has made six threes without a miss. The guard’s performance marked her seventh game with 20+ points and her 11th contest with 3+ 3-pointers in 2023-24. Spear has now led the Lady Vols in scoring on seven occasions in 2023-24.
Firing On All Cylinders
Tennessee shot 50 percent or better the first three quarters while holding the Tide to 43 percent or under in all four periods. The UT Lady Vols, who hit 50.8 vs. Alabama on Friday, have shot 50 percent or better in three or more quarters in seven games this season, including four quarters above the 50-percent mark in their season opener vs. Florida A&M.
UT marked its seventh game of 2023-24 with 50-percent shooting or better and its eighth straight contest of holding foes to 41 percent or less shooting from the field.
Another 20+ Point Game For Kea
With 22 points in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, Rickea Jackson posted her 10th 20+ point game this season and the 26th of her two-year tenure at UT. That mark ranks fifth all-time in a career on Rocky Top.
Rebounding Effort Continues
The Tennessee Lady Vols, who entered ranked No. 9 nationally in rebounds per game at 43.54, carried their impressive rebounding effort into the postseason, out-rebounding Alabama 43-28. UT has won the rebounding war 122 times in 157 games through the UA contest in the Harper era, including 89 by double digits.
In 2023-24, UT has out-rebounded foes in 19 of 30 contests thus far. The effort also flipped the script on 42-39 deficit the last time these teams play on February 8th in Tuscaloosa.
Lova Ya, Blue!
Tennessee donned its Lady Vol blue uniform combination on Friday, and UT improved to 4-1 in those kits, including 3-0 this season. UT beat Florida (88-81) and Missouri (80-69) on January 11th and February 4th, respectively, in 2023-24 before breaking them out against Alabama.
Tennessee debuted them on January 15th, 2023, in a 68-55 home triumph over Georgia, and its’ only loss in UT Lady Vol blue came on February 6th, 2023, in a road loss at Mississippi State.
Next Up For UT Women’s Basketball
The Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team advanced to Saturday’s SEC Tournament semifinal game, where they will face No. 1 seed and No. 1-ranked South Carolina (30-0) at 3:30pm CT.
The contest will be televised by ESPNU and broadcast on Lady Vol Network radio stations and via live stream on UTSports.com.
