No. 15 Tennessee erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and seized a five-point lead with just over two minutes remaining before falling to Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon at Memorial Gymnasium, 71-70, on a last-second shot.
Mikayla Blakes’ tip-in with just under a second left gave the Commodores (15-4, 2-3 SEC) the win after the Lady Vols’ valiant comeback and ended an eight-game Big Orange winning streak in the series. UT fell to 15-3 overall and 3-3 in the SEC on the season.
Tennessee was led in scoring by redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper, who fired in 22 points. She was joined in double figures by junior forward Zee Spearman with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while fifth-year guard Jewel Spear and senior guard Samara Spencer tossed in 10 each. Spencer also dished out a game-high six assists.
Vanderbilt placed three players in double figures, led by 23 points from Mikayla Blakes. She had scoring help from Khamil Pierre and Iyana Moore with 21 and 17, respectively.
Vanderbilt pushed out to an early 6-0 lead on three-pointers by Moore and Blakes before Tess Darby got the Big Orange on the scoreboard at the 8:10 mark with a trey. A Cooper steal and layup and a driving layup by Cooper pulled Tennessee to within two, 9-7, with 6:45 to go. A Spear layup kept UT close at 11-9, and a pair of Ruby Whitehorn free throws trimmed the gap to two again at 13-11 by the 4:47 media break. UT outscored VU 10-8 the rest of the period, with back-to-back Cooper three-balls giving UT its first lead at 21-19 with 38 seconds to go before a Jordyn Oliver driving layup evened the score at 21 to close out the first frame.
An Alyssa Latham free throw and two more by Spencer gave Tennessee its biggest lead at 24-21 with 8:24 to go. Vanderbilt reeled off seven straight points to claim a four-point edge, 28-24, with six minutes left, but Spearman ran the floor and snared a Spencer bullet pass for a transition layup to cut the deficit to two, 28-26, by the 3:47 media timeout. The Commodores, though, answered by closing out the half on a 9-0 run to take a 37-26 lead into the locker room.
Tennessee struck quickly after halftime, scoring four points on a jumper by Cooper and a layup by Whitehorn to trim the deficit to 37-30 by the 8:57 mark. Two more Cooper jumpers and the Lady Vols had cut the gap to five, 39-34, with 7:08 remaining. After Vandy responded with a Blakes layup, Spearman hit one of two free-throw attempts to send her team into the 5:10 media break trailing by six, 41-35. After Vandy extended its lead to 10, 47-37, by the 3:02 mark, a Darby three and layup sliced the gap to five, 47-42, forcing the home team to ask for time with 2:25 to go. A Cooper jumper off the glass drew UT to within four, 48-44, with 1:45 left, but six Vandy free throws over the final minute-plus enabled it to take a 54-45 cushion into the final stanza.
Jumpers by Whitehorn and Cooper cut the Vandy lead to six, 55-49, with 8:23 remaining. After Moore hit a layup, a Spencer layup and back-to-back threes by Spear knotted the game at 57-all with 5:29 left on the clock. VU’s Madison Greene countered with jumper to make it 59-57, but Tennessee answered with a layup by Spearman, an old-fashioned three-point player by Spencer and a pair of Spear free throws to build a five-point advantage, 64-59, with 2:55 to go. With 2:05 remaining, Spearman knocked down a pair of charity tosses to bump the lead back to five, 66-61, but the Commodores scored the next four points on buckets by Moore to make it 66-65 Lady Vols. A layup by Cooper built the gap back to three, 68-65, with 45 seconds remaining, but Vandy grabbed the lead, 69-68, with 31 seconds left after a pair of Blakes and Pierre free throws. Whitehorn hit a huge shot for the Lady Vols with four seconds left to make it 70-69 via a dish from Cooper, but Blakes delivered the game-winner for the home team.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols next travel to Austin, Texas, where they’ll meet the Texas Longhorns on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT (9 p.m. ET) at the Moody Center in the host team’s “We Back Pat” game.
(Photo Credit: UT Athletics)
