Harper says fans help Lady Vols rally to win
With the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team facing a 17-point deficit late in the second quarter Sunday afternoon, coach Kellie Harper knew that — for the second straight game — the Lady Volunteers needed to toughen up mentally and make some defensive stops.
Unlike their Southeastern Conference opener three days earlier at Auburn, though, this game was being played on the court named in honor of late legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt, and the seasonhigh crowd of 8,823 had a heavy rooting interest in the team in the orangeand-white uniforms.
Rickea Jackson scored 27 points, Jewel Spear added 21 for her season high as part of a sharpshooting performance by the Lady Vols, and Harper credited the home fans with an assist as Tennessee rallied to beat Kentucky 87-69 in Knoxville.
The Lady Vols (9-5, 2-0), who pushed their winning streak to five games, were down 45-28 to Kentucky (9-8, 2-1) with less than three minutes left in the first half, but they cut into the visitors’ sizable advantage to trail 49-39 at the break.
“I have to give our crowd a little bit of that comeback, because they were loud,” Harper said in postgame quotes provided by Tennessee. “Their energy was infectious, and I thought our players really played off that energy today. There wasn’t a panic. I think there was a renewed focus coming out of halftime, but there wasn’t panic.
“You start chipping away. You just have to make a few more plays on each end of the court. I think they started feeling good about what we were doing defensively, and that just carried over.”
Tennessee shot 53.3% (32-for-60) for the game, but the Wildcats shot nearly 41% in the first quarter and an even 60% in the second quarter — and despite the Lady Vols making half of their 14 shots in the first quarter and half of their 18 shots in the second quarter, it wasn’t enough.
Similar to the thirdquarter defensive performance that led to a 75-67 win at Auburn in their SEC opener, the Lady Vols started making the stops needed to set up their own offense and begin catching up.
“We’re playing at the Summitt here. The fans always come out,” said Tennessee senior center Tamari Key, who blocked six shots — she now has 314 blocks in her program-record-setting career — after pregame recognition for her status as the only player in Lady Vols history with 300 swats.
“SEC play is really fun for us, and I’m sure for the fans as well. We just came off of a good road win. It’s a Sunday, it’s an early tip, and everybody showed up for us. The fans gave us a lot of energy, and we needed that in the second half.”
An 11-0 run helped Tennessee pull even at 55 in the third quarter, and although Kentucky would lead twice more, the Lady Vols scored the final seven points of the period and entered the fourth up 66-60. They closed the game on a 9-0 run.
Jackson shot 11-for -18 from the field and 4-for-6 at the foul line, and Spear was even more efficient at 6-for-9 and 8-for-8. Jackson grabbed seven rebounds and Spear had six as Tennessee’s advantage as a team was 43-36 on the glass.
Jillian Hollingshead also had seven rebounds, as did Jasmine Powell, who just missed a doubledouble with nine points and as many assists. Tess Darby’s eight-point performance included three steals.
Tennessee totaled 21 assists while overcoming 16 turnovers — Kentucky had 14 — and rallied without doing serious damage from 3-point range as the Lady Vols shot 4-for-17 behind the arc in the game.
Harper said her halftime message emphasized the need to be more aggressive defensively.
“Kentucky averages 60-61 points a game, and we gave up 31 in the second quarter,” she said. “That’s facts, and it’s unacceptable. Let’s give Kentucky credit, they knocked down shots and did what they needed to do. They had a lot of energy and played so hard. Our team did not affect them at all, and we talked about that.”
Eniya Russell led Kentucky with 16 points, Ajae Petty added 14 with 14 rebounds, Maddie Scherr scored 13 with five assists and Saniah Tyler had 10 points.
Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy — like Harper, she won multiple national championships as a Lady Vols guard playing for Summitt — said “it’s always good to be back at Tennessee,” although she obviously would have preferred to leave with a win.
“I really thought in the third quarter we let our offense affect our defense,” Elzy said. “We gave up some offensive rebounds, we kind of start fouling and not sprinting back in transitions, which cost us. A lot to learn, a lot to grow from, but we didn’t lose this one for lack of heart and hustle.”
Tennessee is home again for Thursday’s 7 p.m. game against Florida (9-5, 0-2), which will be televised by the SEC Network.