KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – After coming oh-so-close to netting victories over four top-10 teams this season, No. 19/17 Tennessee finally broke through in a big way on Thursday night, outlasting No. 5/5 UConn, 80-76, in an epic battle in front of a raucous crowd of 16,215 at Food City Center.
The Lady Vols (17-5, 4-5 SEC) snapped a four-game series skid to the Huskies and defeated the perennial power for the first time since 2007. The Big Orange also recorded their first triumph over a top-five team since toppling No. 2/3 South Carolina in 2021. UT head coach Kim Caldwell, meanwhile, emerged victorious in her debut game in the series and claimed a hard-earned signature win.
Caldwell and company had suffered a one-point loss to No. 9/10 Oklahoma (87-86), a two-point setback to No. 6/4 LSU (89-87), a four-point defeat to No. 7/7 Texas (80-76) and a seven-point loss to No. 2/2 South Carolina (70-63) before taking down the Huskies and improving to 17-5 this season.
Tennessee featured four players in double figures on the evening. Junior forward Zee Spearman tallied a team-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and hit a layup on a dish from Talaysia Cooper with 12 seconds left to all but clinch the win. Senior guard Samara Spencer tossed in 14 points, while fifth-year guard Jewel Spear added 12 points and Cooper contributed 11 points and team-best eight rebounds and four assists. Cooper helped the Lady Vols out-rebound their foes by 12, 46-34, including 17-13 on the offensive glass.
UConn fell to 21-3 with the loss, with UT joining No. 8/10 Notre Dame (79-68) and No. 7/7 USC (72-70) as the only teams to defeat the Huskies this season. Sarah Strong paced her team in scoring with 18 points, while Paige Bueckers chipped in 14 and KK Arnold and Azzi Fudd added 11 and 10, respectively.
Tennessee quickly jumped ahead 4-0 on jumpers by Ruby Whitehorn and Spear, but UConn responded with a 5-0 burst to move in front, 5-4, with 8:00 to go on a Strong jumper. UT seized another four-point lead, 9-5, at the 6:23 mark on buckets by Sara Puckett and Jillian Hollingshead and used a Spearman jumper to carry a 12-11 advantage into the 4:26 media timeout. After UConn grabbed a 13-12 lead on a pair of Strong free throws, Spencer lifted her team back in front, 15-13, on a long three-pointer. The Huskies responded with six straight points to seize a 19-15 advantage before Spear hit a layup to cut the gap to 19-17 before the end of the quarter.
Tennessee knotted the score at 19-all and 22-22 on a layup by Spearman and a three by Tess Darby, respectively, before UConn snared a 26-22 cushion at the 6:54 mark. A Spencer layup whittled the margin to 26-24, but the Huskies responded by pushing ahead 32-25 for their biggest lead with 4:55 to go in the half. The Lady Vols clawed back, scoring five straight on a Cooper jumper along with a Whitehorn free throw and bucket to pull within two, 32-30, with 2:46 remaining. UConn moved back ahead by seven, 39-32, with 57 seconds, left, but UT reeled off another five straight, getting an old-fashioned three-point play from Spear and a pair of Spearman charity tosses to go into the locker room trailing by only two, 39-37.
UConn increased its lead to six, 43-37, in the early stages of the third period, but UT began to trim the margin, getting layups from Cooper and Spencer to tie it at 45 with 6:47 remaining. UT poured on more steam, moving ahead by four, 49-45, with 5:59 to go on consecutive buckets by Spencer, the second off of her own steal, and forcing UConn to ask for time. Puckett built onto the lead, draining a three from the top of the key to boost her team ahead by seven, 52-45, with 5:12 to go and send the crowd into a frenzy. A layup by Cooper with 4:19 boosted the Lady Vol lead to nine, 54-45, but UConn slowly worked within two, getting a layup by Arnold to make it 56-54 with 52 seconds left. A top-of-the-key three by Spencer with 34 seconds left, though, sent the home team into the final frame with a 59-54 margin.
A Spearman three gave Tennessee a 62-54 lead to open the final stanza, and a layup by the forward made it an eight-point game with 8:26 remaining, 64-56, before UConn responded with an Arnold layup to trim the deficit to six, 64-58, with 8:15 to go. After a Cooper free throw increased the gap to seven, 65-58, with 7:01 to go, the teams exchanged buckets until UConn made it a two-point game, 67-65, with 4:59 remaining on a pair of Aubrey Griffin free throws. Two Kaitlyn Chen free throws evened the score at 69, and Bueckers did so again with a three-pointer to make it 74-all with 2:07 left. The Lady Vols, though, were not about to let an opportunity slip away, as a layup by Spearman at the 1:41 mark made it 76-74, and a pair of free throws by Cooper lifted UT ahead by four, 78-74, with 1:02 showing on the clock. After Strong scored inside with 51 ticks left, Tennessee managed to milk some clock and then went up four, 80-76, after Cooper found Spearman inside for a layup with 12 seconds remaining. UConn got up a couple of shots before time expired, but both were off the mark.
UP NEXT: Tennessee travels to Baton Rouge, La., this weekend to take on LSU on Sunday at the Maravich Center. The Lady Vols and Tigers will meet at 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) in a contest televised by ESPN. The game also will be available on Lady Vol Network radio stations statewide and via audio stream on UTSports.com. Listen locally on 95.5FM WSMG, The Jewel, beginning at 3:30pm
