Dye scores 20; Lady Vols 7-0

KNOXVILLE — Alexus Dye scored 20 points on 10-of-15 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, and Tamari Key added 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks as the 11th-ranked Tennessee women’s basketball team beat Tennessee Tech 76-48 on Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tess Darby gave the Lady Volunteers their only double-digit lead of the first half on a 3-pointer that made it 30-19, and Dye scored the team’s final eight points of the period for a 38-30 advantage at intermission. Tennessee outscored the Golden Eagles 18-5 in the third quarter to pull away. Tech (2-5) opened the scoring after halftime with a basket at the 9:36 mark of the third but didn’t make another field goal the rest of the quarter. The Lady Vols scored the opening eight points of the fourth for a 29-point lead before Tech made a basket with 7:41 left. Darby finished with 12 points, all on 3-pointers, for Tennessee, which returns to competition at 2 p.m. Sunday at Virginia Tech. Jordan Horston added nine points and five rebounds for the Lady Vols. Anna Jones scored 12 points and Jada Guinn had four of the 11 steals for the Golden Eagles, who were outrebounded 53-27. Anna Walker, a former Bradley Central High School standout who began her collegiate career at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, scored nine points in 21 minutes off the bench for Tech.

› ATHENS, Ga. — Jabri Abdur-Rahim’s 3-pointer with less than two minutes remaining gave the Georgia men’s basketball team the lead, and the Bulldogs snapped their four-game losing streak by beating No. 18 Memphis 82-79 on Wednesday night. The 3-pointer by Abdur-Rahim, who scored 15 points, gave the Bulldogs a 78-77 edge over the Tigers, who led most of the second half. Kario Oquendo, who scored a game-high 24 points, followed with a steal and a dunk that extended the hosts’ advantage to three points. After the Tigers’ Landers Nolley II missed a free throw, Georgia’s Jailyn Ingram made one of two shots from the line for an 81-77 lead. A dunk by Nolley, who led the Tigers with 17 points, cut the lead to two points. After Christian Wright’s free throw pushed Georgia’s lead to three, Memphis was left with 4.5 seconds to set up a possible tying shot, but Emoni Bates’ heave from just past midcourt bounced off the rim. Memphis (5-2) lost for the second game in a row, with last Friday’s 78-59 loss to Iowa State causing the Tigers to drop from No. 9 in the AP Top 25. Georgia (3-5) took its second surprising win over a ranked Memphis team in less than two years; the Bulldogs beat the Tigers 65-62 on Jan. 4, 2020, when they were No. 9.

BASEBALL

› IRVING, Texas — The clock ticked down Wednesday toward the expiration of Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement at 11:59 p.m. EST and a likely management lockout ending the sport’s labor peace at 9,740 days over 26 1/2 years. After successfully reaching four consecutive agreements without a stoppage, players and owners have appeared headed for a confrontation for more than two years. Management negotiators left the union’s hotel about nine hours before the deal was set to expire, and there was no indication they planned to return. The union demanded change after anger over a declining average salary, middle-class players being forced out by teams concentrating payroll on the wealthy, and veterans being jettisoned in favor of lower-paid youth, especially among clubs tearing down their rosters to rebuild. Management, intent on preserving salary restraints gained in recent decades, rejected the union’s requests for what teams regarded as significant alterations to the sport’s economic structure, including lowering service time needed for free agency and salary arbitration.

› ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves have tendered a contract to slugger Adam Duvall, ensuring the National League’s RBIs leader for 2021 will return to the World Series champions for another season. The tendering of Duvall by the Tuesday night deadline was among a flurry of moves for the Braves, who also reached contract agreements with bench players Orlando Arcia and Guillermo Heredia. The club did not offer 2022 contracts to pitchers Richard Rodriguez and infielder

Johan Camargo, making them free agents. Atlanta has still not addressed its top priority after a surprising run to its first MLB title since 1995: re-signing Freddie Freeman. The veteran first baseman has made it clear he wants to return to the Braves, but he declared for free agency as the sides continue to discuss a long-term deal.