COLUMBIA, Mo. – Redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper fired in 27 points, as No. 18/19 Tennessee held off Missouri on Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena, 76-71.
Cooper scored 14 in the first quarter and 10 in the third frame to help the Lady Vols overcome a slow start and 12-point first quarter deficit to improve to 16-5 overall and 4-5 in SEC play. The 6-foot guard also joined senior forward Sara Puckett with a team-leading seven rebounds and had a squad-best six steals, four assists and three blocks. Cooper received scoring help from junior forward Zee Spearman, who contributed 13.
The Tigers (12-12, 1-8 SEC) were led by 18 points from De’Myla Brown, while Grace Slaughter added 16, Ashton Judd 13 and Laniah Randle a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Missouri grabbed a 7-0 lead in the early going, hitting its first three shots and a free throw to force a Lady Vol timeout with 7:33 to go in the opening stanza. UT finally got on the scoreboard with a pair of Spearman free throws at the 7:10 mark, but the Tigers built a 15-3 lead by the 4:50 mark while UT began the game on an 0-for-9 drought from the field. Ruby Whitehorn finally broke the ice from the floor with a layup with 4:40 to go and then Cooper took over, scoring 13 of her 14 first-frame points over the rest of the period to reel MU in. A pair of Jillian Hollingshead free throws with 15 seconds left drew the Big Orange within two, 22-20, by the end of the period.
The teams exchanged buckets in the early stages of the second stanza with a Whitehorn trey evening things at 25 before the Tigers responded with four points by the 4:49 media break to make it 29-25. Tennessee used a 5-0 burst via a Hollingshead put-back, a pair of Spearman charity tosses and another from Hollingshead to grab its first lead, 30-29, with 2:56 remaining. It then went up two on a Tess Darby three with 2:03 to go before the home team knotted things up at 33 before the teams headed into the intermission.
The Tigers used a 4-0 push to move ahead, 37-33, with 9:11 to go in third, but Tennessee stormed back on a 9-2 run, capped by a Spearman layup and Cooper steal and score, to seize a 42-39 lead and force a Missouri timeout with 6:26 to go. An Alyssa Latham baseline jumper gave UT its biggest lead, 44-39, at the 5:31 mark, but Mizzou responded with a Randle second-chance bucket before the teams headed to the 4:41 media timeout. The Tigers would deadlock things at 50 with 2:12 to go on a Judd layup, but a Samara Spencer layup, Cooper three and put-back, and a Kaniya Boyd layup handed the Lady Vols their largest lead, 59-50, with 1:07 on the clock. Slaughter, though, was able to hit a layup with 19 seconds left, cutting UT’s lead to seven, 59-52, after three.
Tennessee punched its way to a 65-59 lead with 6:24 remaining in the game on consecutive threes by Jewel Spear, and it then got an old-fashioned three-point play from Cooper and another charity toss from Spencer to carve out a 10-point advantage with 5:57 on the lock. Missouri, though, clawed its way to within five, 69-64, by the 5:25 media timeout. The Lady Vols moved ahead by nine, 74-65, with 2:36 to go on a pair of Spearman free throws and another from Spencer, but whittled the deficit to three, 74-71, after Slaughter scored on a layup with 56 ticks on the clock. The Tigers, however, got no closer, as Jewel Spear’s free throws with 16 seconds left accounted for the final score.
UP NEXT: Tennessee returns home and welcomes No. 6/6 UConn to Food City Center for a nationally-televised game on Thursday night. The Lady Vols and Huskies will meet at 6:30 p.m. ET in a contest carried by ESPN. The game also will be available on Lady Vol Network radio stations statewide, on locally on 99.5FM WGRV beginning at 6pm.
