KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Fifth-year guard Jewel Spear led the way with 20 points, as No. 15/13 Tennessee claimed its 20th victory of the season with an 88-80 triumph over No. 18/19 Alabama on Thursday night in front of a crowd of 10,684 at Food City Center.
Spear hit four of six shots from the field and went 11 of 11 at the free-throw line to tally 20 or more points for the second straight game and for the fifth time this season. She helped the Lady Vols win their third consecutive contest and improve to 20-6 overall and 7-6 in SEC play with three games remaining.
Spear got scoring help from redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper and junior forward Zee Spearman, who tossed in 16 and 13, respectively, as the Big Orange scored the most points on UA all season. Texas is the only other team to break 80, doing so on Jan. 9 in an 84-40 win in Austin.
The Crimson Tide (21-6, 8-5), which saw its four-game winning streak snapped, had all five starters in double figures. Sarah Ashlee Barker led the way with 22, followed by Zaay Green with 16, Essence Cody and Aaliyah Nye with 13 each and Karly Weathers with 11.
Alabama grabbed an early 10-4 lead on 57-percent shooting over the opening three minutes, forcing a Tennessee timeout with 7:10 to go. The Lady Vols bounced back, getting a put-back from Alyssa Latham and a Cooper jumper to work within two, 10-8, with 5:42 remaining and then evening things up at 13 on a Latham three-pointer with 3:46 left. The Crimson Tide reeled off seven straight points, though, to grab a 20-13 margin with 2:13 to go before a Cooper steal and layup pulled the Big Orange back with five, 22-17, by the end of the first.
UT struck quickly to open the second stanza, scoring on a Ruby Whitehorn jumper and a Spear trey to even things up at 22 just 39 seconds in and force an Alabama timeout. The Tide quickly equaled its largest margin of the game, 29-22, but a 10-0 Big Orange run fueled by a Samara Spencer three, a Kaniya Boyd steal and score, a trio of Spear free throws and a Latham layup pushed the home team ahead, 32-29 with 4:59 remaining. The Tide would surge back in front by five, 37-32, with 3:54 to go, but the Lady Vols put together another 10-0 burst to end the half, getting a pair of threes from Tess Darby, two free throws from Spear and a layup from Spearman to carry a 42-37 advantage into the locker room.
Tennessee came out blazing after the intermission, building an eight-point lead, 47-39, on a Darby trey at the 8:54 mark. After an Alabama bucket by Weathers cut the deficit to 47-42, the Lady Vols went on a 11-0 blitz to seize a 58-42 lead, with a Sara Puckett three-ball capping things with 4:47 to go in the period. Alabama scored the next seven points after the break, trimming the gap to 58-49 before Tennessee distanced itself from its foe by 14, 65-51, by the end of the quarter on a Cooper layup and Spear old-fashioned three-point play.
The Crimson Tide got the lead down to 12 early in the fourth quarter, but UT pushed the margin back to 15, 70-55, on a Spearman and-one play with 8:10 remaining. Alabama kept the heat on, trimming the gap to 11, 70-59, before the 7:07 media break. Tennessee got five straight Spear free throws to lead 75-61 with 6:34 to go, but UA wouldn’t go away. The Tide scored seven straight to trim the margin to eight, 75-67, with 5:12 left and then used an 8-2 gush to make it a four-point game, 79-75, with 3:15 remaining. After a UT timeout, though, the Lady Vols got a free throw from Spencer, a Boyd layup and Spear put-back to restore the lead to nine, 84-75, with 1:34 on the clock and were able to salt the game away.
UP NEXT: Next on the schedule for the Lady Vols is a 1 p.m. ET Sunday matinee vs. Florida in Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The contest will be televised on SEC Network and also will be broadcast on Lady Vol Network radio stations statewide and via audio stream on UTSports.com. Listen on 103.1FM WIKQ beginning at 12:30pm
