Birmingham, AL – No. 20 Tennessee women’s basketball, seeded No. 5 in the Birmingham Regional, fought tooth and nail with top-seeded and fifth-ranked Texas before falling, 67-59, in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Sweet 16 at Legacy Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Vols (24-10) and Longhorns (34-3) were tied after three quarters, and the Big Orange knotted the score twice in the fourth period. After Texas built a four-point lead with 6:19 remaining, Kim Caldwell‘s squad fought back within one, 59-58, by the 4:53 mark but could not get over the hump.
Junior guard Ruby Whitehorn paced Tennessee with 16 points, while junior forward Zee Spearman and senior Samara Spencer contributed 13 and 12, respectively.
Texas was led by Madison Booker, who tossed in 17 points, while Jordan Lee added 13 and Taylor Jones and Bryanna Preston chipped in 12 apiece.
Talaysia Cooper started the game with a three for Tennessee, and with buckets from Spearman, Jewel Spear and Spencer, the Lady Vols built a 9-4 lead by the 6:20 mark. Texas cut the gap to one, 9-8, with 5:42 left before an Alyssa Latham pullup jumper sent UT into the 4:37 media timeout possessing an 11-8 lead. A pair of Jillian Hollingshead free throws after the timeout extended the Big Orange lead to 13-8, but Texas stormed back with a 13-0 run to close out the first frame with a 21-13 advantage.
Tennessee ended the Longhorn spree with a steal and layup by Whitehorn to open the second stanza and got a Cooper jumper to trim the gap to four, 21-17, by the 8:46 mark. After Texas responded with a pair of buckets, layups by Spencer, Whitehorn and Spearman capped a 10-4 burst and pulled their team within two, 25-23, by the 4:35 media break.
After Texas pushed ahead 28-23, a Tess Darby layup on a back-door pass from Latham and a Whitehorn trey knotted the contest at 28 with 2:07 on the clock. A pair of Jones free throws and a layup by Preston, however, boosted the Longhorns back in front, 32-28, with 1:23 to go. After Preston scored again with 30 seconds left, Whitehorn drove for a layup to send her squad into the locker room trailing by just four, 34-30, after the opening 20 minutes despite being outshot from the field 56 to 38 percent.
Texas extended its lead to seven in the third period, 41-34, with 6:57 left, but three-pointers by Darby, Spencer and Spearman pulled Tennessee within two, 45-43, before the teams caught their breath at the 4:49 media timeout.
After a pair of Booker free throws moved Texas ahead, 47-43, with 4:11 to go, a Spearman put-back and Spencer layup tied it at 47, and then a Whitehorn layup gave the Big Orange its first lead since the first quarter at 49-47. A Lee three put the Longhorns back on top, 50-49, with 25 ticks left, but a Whitehorn free throw with a second on the clock deadlocked the teams at 50 heading into the final frame.
The Lady Vols grabbed the lead twice at 52-50 and again at 54-52 in the early going of the fourth period on buckets by Spearman and Cooper. A 6-0 burst by Texas, though, gave it a four-point lead at 58-54 with 6:19 left. A Spencer layup ended the run and trimmed the gap to two, 58-56, with 5:56 remaining before a Booker free throw sent the Longhorns into the 5:00 media break with a 59-56 advantage.
A Whitehorn layup cut the deficit to one, 59-58, at the 4:53 mark, but Texas responded with back-to-back buckets to pull ahead, 63-58, with 3:59 to go. A Spencer free throw trimmed the gap to 63-59 at the 3:43 mark, but Texas was able to hold the Lady Vols scoreless the rest of the way and hit four free throws to close out the win.
