Columbus, OH – No. 20 Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team, seeded No. 4 in the Birmingham 3 Regional, punched its ticket to the program’s 37th NCAA Sweet16 in the 43 years of the women’s tournament with an 82-67 victory over No. 4 seed and No. 15/13-ranked Ohio State Sunday night at the Schottenstein Center.
The Lady Vols (24-9), who fell behind by 11 over the opening six minutes, hit reset after a first-quarter media timeout and outscored the Buckeyes 77-51 the rest of the way. UT improved to 4-0 vs. OSU during the postseason and 11-3 all-time and handed the home team its first loss of the year in its own venue in 17 games.
Redshirt sophomore Talaysia Cooper led her team in scoring for the 13th time this season, firing in 19 points and adding team highs with eight rebounds and seven steals along with five assists and a blocked shot. Also in double figures were junior Zee Spearman, junior Ruby Whitehorn and senior Samara Spencer, who contributed 17, 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Buckeyes (26-7), who tied for third in the Big Ten this season, were paced by Jaloni Cambridge, who scored 19 points. Cotie McMahon added 17.
After Ohio State jumped on top early in the game with a Chance Gray bucket, Tennessee’s Tess Darby gave her team the lead right back on a three-pointer at the 8:30 mark. The Buckeyes, though, countered with a 9-0 run to grab an 11-3 advantage with 5:31 to go. A Jillian Hollingshead layup ended the UT drought at the 5:10 mark, and OSU added another score to take a 13-5 lead into the 4:45 media break.
After the Buckeyes stretched their lead to 11, 16-5, with 3:49 remaining, the Lady Vols punched back with a 12-2 burst, getting threes from Cooper and Darby and layups from Spearman and Jewel Spear to help close the gap to 18-17 with 44 seconds left. OSU, though, scored the last three points of the period to claim a 21-17 lead after one.
A Spencer three-pointer trimmed the deficit to one at the outset of the second stanza before Ohio State pushed the gap back to five, 25-20, with 7:47 to go. Tennessee, however, put together a 7-0 explosion on a Darby three and back-to-back layups by Spearman to retake the lead, 27-25, and force a Buckeyes timeout with 5:59 to go.
OSU hit a free throw after the break, but Tennessee built a six-point lead, 32-26, on a put-back by Hollingshead and a three by Whitehorn with 4:23 to go. The home team managed to creep within three points on three occasions, including 38-35 on a layup by McMahon with 27 seconds left, but a pair of Spencer free throws with a tick on the clock sent the Lady Vols into the locker room with a 40-35 advantage.
After Cambridge opened the second half with a layup for OSU and pulled her team within three, 40-37, Tennessee reeled off eight in a row on a layup by Whitehorn, a Cooper bucket on an inbounds play and layups from Alyssa Latham and Spearman to move ahead by 11, 48-37, with 8:03 to go and force a Buckeye timeout. Back-to-back threes by Spear and Spencer extended the lead to 17, 54-37, with 6:58 remaining, but Ohio State countered with a 12-0 run of its own to chop the UT lead to six, 54-49, with 4:56 left and force an Big Orange timeout.
OSU lengthened that run to 16-0 with four more points before a Spearman bucket ended it with 3:50 remaining. The home team wasn’t finished, getting a McMahon old-fashioned three-point play to take a 57-56 lead with 2:48 left. UT demonstrated great resilience, though, finishing the period on a 10-2 blitz capped by a Whitehorn put-back that sent the Lady Vols into the final frame with a 66-59 lead.
Tennessee outscored Ohio State 8-4 to open the fourth quarter, getting a shot-clock-beating corner three from Whitehorn and five points from Cooper to build a 74-63 cushion by the 4:26 media timeout. A Spencer layup made it 76-63 with 3:18 to go, and OSU asked for time. The Buckeyes managed to score after the timeout and once more with 1:30 to go, but layups by Spearman and a pair of Cooper charity tosses closed out the victory.
Next Up For UT Women’s Basketball
The Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team advances to its 37th NCAA Sweet 16 in the 43-year history of the women’s tournament. It will face either No. 1 seed Texas or No. 8 Illinois in Alabama on Saturday at 12:00pm CT (1:00pm ET) or 2:30pm CT (3:30pm ET) at Legacy Arena in the Birmingham 3 Regional.
The contest will be televised by ABC and available on Lady Vol Network radio stations statewide and via audio stream on UTSports.com.
