Cold Shooting Night Costs #11 Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball in 82-58 Loss to #15 Kentucky

Lexington, KY – No. 11/11 Tennessee women’s basketball team suffered through a rough shooting night, while No. 15/14 Kentucky hit shots at a 52-percent clip and ran away from the Lady Vols Thursday night, 82-58, in front of 5,951 at Memorial Coliseum.

Redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper fired in 25 points and was the only player in double figures for Tennessee (21-7, 8-7 SEC), which struggled to season lows in points and field goal percentage at 31.1 while seeing its four-game winning streak come to an end.

Kentucky (22-5, 11-4 SEC) had four players in double figures, led by a 23-point, 15-rebound double-double from Clara Strack. Georgia Amoore and Teonni Key added 18 points apiece, while Dazia Lawrence chipped in 13.

Kentucky jumped on top early, 4-0, before UT answered with a Cooper reverse layup with 8:28 remaining in the opening stanza. The Wildcats used a 10-4 run, with Alyssa Latham and Samara Spencer offering the only Lady Vol counters, to take a 14-6 lead by the 4:18 media timeout.

UK moved ahead by 12, 18-6, with 1:03 to go before Cooper ended a five-minute drought with a three pointer. That, though, was followed by an Amoore layup to end the quarter with the home team on top, 20-9, as the Lady Vols suffered through a 4-for-23 shooting spell over the opening 10 minutes.

UK continued to expand its margin at the outset of the second period, scoring two quick buckets to make it 24-9 and force a Tennessee timeout with 9:06 to go. Tess Darby knocked down a three-pointer to trim the margin to 24-12 at the 8:15 mark and a steal and layup from Kaniya Boyd and a three-pointer by Cooper helped pull UT within 11, 28-17, with 6:42 to go.

After the Cats scored three points on free throws, a Spencer trey drew her team back to within 12, 32-20, by the 5:48 mark, but Kentucky ballooned the lead to 16 on a Strack layup, 36-20, with 4:10 remaining. Two Zee Spearman free throws and a Ruby Whitehorn layup pulled the Lady Vols back to within 12, 36-24, with 2:49 to go, but Kentucky used a 9-2 push to take a 45-26 lead into the locker room. 

The Wildcats kept pushing after intermission, putting together a period-opening 8-2 run to extend the gap to 25, 53-28, with 7:51 to go and forcing another Tennessee timeout. UT got a pair of free throws, a Latham layup and Cooper jumper, but it did little to slow the Cats, as they carried a 61-34 advantage into the media timeout. The Lady Vols managed to score a game-most 19 points by the end of the frame, but Kentucky produced 29 of its own and possessed a 74-45 cushion.

The teams traded buckets through the first six minutes, with Kentucky carrying an 80-51 lead into the 4:07 media timeout. Buckets by Sara Puckett, Spencer (three) and Jillian Hollingshead allowed Tennessee to close out the game with a 7-0 run and make the final score, 82-58.

SAM HITS 1500/500/500 STAT LINE: Samara Spencer has carded a career stat line of at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists and joined five other SEC women’s players who have accomplished that feat since 1991-92. Through the Kentucky game, Spencer has produced 1,659 points, 522 rebounds and 502 assists between her time at Arkansas and UT. She joins Kelly Miller (Georgia, 2,177/711/639), Niesa Johnson (Alabama, 2,134/846/800), Khayla Pointer (LSU, 1,934/573/599), Jordan Lewis (Alabama, 1,581, 535, 510) and C’eira Ricketts (Arkansas, 1,537/664/516) in that limited club. 

50-TREY TRIO: Tess Darby, Jewel Spear and Samara Spencer have made history, becoming the first Lady Vol trio to knock down 50 or more three pointers each in a season. Spear leads the group with 66, Spencer has drained 56 and Darby knocked down her 50th trey on Thursday night during the Kentucky contest. 

COOPER DROPS 20+ AGAIN: For the 11th time this season, Talaysia Cooper scored 20 or more points, finishing with a game-high 25 vs. the Wildcats. The point total was her 25th double-figure effort of the campaign and third-highest output behind 33 vs. Liberty and 27 at Missouri.