KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – In a battle of undefeated in-state rivals residing just outside the top 25, Tennessee narrowly missed a school record in draining 15 three-pointers to sink Middle Tennessee, 89-75, Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 9,697 at Food City Center.
The Lady Vols (3-0) tied two previous performances for second in the school record book with their 15 makes, coming up just short of the 2011 program best of 16 vs. Kentucky on March 6, 2011. They did, however, topple the UT mark for three-point attempts for the second straight game, unleashing 42 tries behind the arc and finishing just five off the SEC record.
Redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper paced the Big Orange on the evening, recording her first-ever double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting. She also added four rebounds, four steals and a block to her stat line. Joining her in double figures for points were senior guard Samara Spencer, with 17, followed by fifth-year guard/forward Tess Darby and senior forward Sara Puckett with 14 and 13, respectively.
Middle Tennessee (2-1) was led by guard Courtney Blakely, who fired in a game-high 25 points. She was joined in double figures by Anastasiia Boldyreva, with 18, along Jalynn Gregory and Ta’Mia Scott, who tossed in 13 points apiece.
MTSU jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Spencer got the home team on the scoreboard with a three-pointer with 7:36 to go in the opening stanza. The Blue Raiders, who scored 10 of their first 12 points in the paint, built their lead to seven, 12-5, before a pair of Darby free throws cut the gap to five heading into the 4:38 media timeout. The rest of the period, UT unleashed a 16-6 run, with a trio of Spencer treys and Cooper buckets helping fuel the Big Orange to a 23-18 lead after one. Tennessee tallied 11 points off six MTSU turnovers during that initial 10 minutes.
The teams exchanged buckets early in the second frame before a UT trap forced a Middle Tennessee timeout with the Lady Vols leading, 25-20, with 7:16 to go. Coming out of the break, Tennessee built a 29-23 lead on a Jillian Hollingshead layup and pair of Kaniya Boyd free throws. After the Blue Raiders trimmed the gap to 29-27 at the 5:00 mark, the Lady Vols got consecutive threes from Alyssa Latham, Puckett and Zee Spearman to stretch their advantage to 38-27. Another three by Puckett with 46 seconds left increased the lead to 13, 41-28, before a bucket by Boldyreva sent the teams to the locker room with the Big Orange in front, 41-30.
Tennessee built its biggest lead at 17 twice midway through the third, with Cooper getting layups to push her team up 53-36 (6:56) and 55-38 (6:15). She netted 10 points during that span as her squad took a 55-42 lead into the 4:50 media timeout. Middle Tennessee began to chip away at the gap, cutting the deficit to 10, 60-50, with 2:20 to go and then got a layup with four seconds left to trail 67-57 going into the final quarter.
The Blue Raiders trimmed the margin to eight twice in the early moments of the fourth, including 69-61 with 7:58 to go, but a pair of threes by Darby put the Lady Vols back up by 11, 75-64, forcing MTSU to ask for time with 6:06 remaining. A free throw by Blakely enabled Middle Tennessee to work within nine, 75-66, with 5:51 remaining, but a Cooper driving layup and a corner three by Latham sent the home team into the 4:37 media timeout with an 80-67 advantage. After MTSU netted a pair of free throws after the break, Ruby Whitehorn made it 83-69 with a three at the 3:40 mark and then Darby hit two more of her four final-frame treys with 2:58 and 1:47 remaining, respectively, to put the game on ice.
NEXT UP: The Lady Vols are back in action on Saturday, as Liberty comes to Knoxville for UT’s fourth straight home contest to open the 2024-25 campaign. The matchup will be streamed live on SECN+ at noon ET and 99.5FM WGRV.
