Thompson-Boling Arena played host to the Battle of the UTs on Sunday, as the Tennessee Lady Vols welcomed the Texas Longhorns as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
The visiting Longhorns, however, came out on top, winning 66-60.
Rennia Davis, Jazmine Massengill, Tamari Key, Lou Brown and Jordan Horston got the start, but eight Lady Vols contributed with at least double-digit minutes.
Massengill and Davis played over 30 minutes. Davis led the team in scoring with 15 points and Cassie Kushkituah was the team’s leader in rebounding with nine.
Texas head coach Karen Aston spoke on whether the Longhorns were better than their 4-4 record going into the game against Tennessee.
“No question about it.” Aston said “I expected some struggles early … Sometimes you’re as good as you need to be when you tipoff in the very first game, and sometimes you’re just not. We’ve had some adversity and I think that’s the best thing that’s happened with this group. If they’ll continue, that’s the biggest thing.”
Both teams came out of the gate firing in the first quarter, with Texas edging out Tennessee 22-19 in the opening 10 minutes.
The Longhorns shot 42.1% with Jada Underwood and Sug Sutton leading the visitors with 8 and 7 points, respectively. Joyner Holmes and Charli Collier were also critical, pulling down three rebounds each for their teams. The Lady Vols’ shooting didn’t fare as well, only shooing 28.3% from the field, with Davis leading the team with five points and 33.3% from the field.
The second quarter was dominated at the start by the Longhorns. The score would end the score 20-17 in favor of Texas. The Longhorns went on a 13-3 run over Tennessee midway through the second period. At one point, Texas’ lead reached twelve before the Lady Vols started to take back the game.
Rae Burrell led the team in scoring but six different Lady Vols players contributed to the scoring, the most prominent of which came when Davis hit a three as time expired before the break.
Tennessee continued their momentum from the end of the first half in the third quarterback, outscoring Texas 13-8 and making a one point going into the fourth quarter.
The third was actually the Lady Vols’ worst offensive quarter, five total field goals and a 26.3 shooting percentage, but Tennessee played terrific defense after halftime. The Longhorns shot only 21.1%, and the Lady Vols pulled down 13 rebounds on the defensive end of the court.
Tennessee carried that momentum off the Davis three-pointer into the fourth. The noise inside Thompson-Boling Arena reached a fever pitch when Texas called timeout after a 4-0 start by Tennessee. Texas however, closed out the game by outscoring Tennessee 16-11 in the final frame to claim a six-point win.
“Obviously, hate the loss” Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper said postgame “but, it’s definitely an opportunity for us to measure where we are against high quality athletes and a really good basketball team.
“So, I told our players that we got to find a way to get better, otherwise, a loss helps you none.”
Tennessee is in action again on Wednesday in Knoxville. The Lady Vols will look to avoid starting a losing streak when Colorado State comes to town. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena.
