Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Quotes | Highlights | Harper Presser | Darby/Key/Horston Presser
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Bouncing back into the win column, the No. 13/10 Tennessee women’s basketball team raced to a 58-33 lead after the first three quarters and coasted to victory over Missouri, 76-62, Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Lady Vols (20-4/9-2 SEC) grabbed their 20th win of the season, the 44th time in 48 years that the program has reached that plateau. Missouri fell to 16-8, 5-6 in league play, as Kellie Harper‘s squad moved to 4-0 over the Tigers under her leadership.
UT spread the scoring around on offense with four players finishing in double figures. Junior Jordan Horston led the Big Orange attack with 21 points, followed by sophomore Tess Darby with 12 points and graduate Alexus Dye and senior Rae Burrell adding 11 each.
Horston was all over the floor, notching her 11th double-double of the season by adding 13 rebounds along with five assists.
Tamari Key was a brick wall around the bucket, swatting away seven shots. In Lady Vol history, there have been 17 games where an individual has blocked seven or more shots. Key owns six of those games.
Tennessee hit its shots in the first quarter, sinking 7-of-13 (.538) from the field and holding Missouri under 40 percent from the floor. The Lady Vols got seven points from Horston, while Darby went 2-of-3 from deep for six points. The Lady Vols opened up a 13-5 lead, but six turnovers in the last three minutes hampered the offensive momentum. UT and MU finished the frame tied at 17.
The Lady Vols gained some ground on the Tigers in the second, courtesy of a smothering presence on the offensive glass. Of UT’s 14 rebounds in the period, nine were offensive. Freshman Sara Puckett had four offensive boards, Horston had three and graduate Jordan Walker nabbed a pair. Tennessee headed into the halftime break leading 32-27.
The Big Orange buckled down on defense, holding Mizzou to only two points in the first 8:15 of the third frame. During that span, the Lady Vols sank 15 points, with Dye delivering nine of them in that span. In total, Tennessee won the third quarter, 26-6, leading 58-33 going into the fourth. Dye finished with 11 in the quarter and Burrell knocked down seven, including a step-back 3-pointer with a second left on the clock to push the Lady Vol lead to 25.
Twelve Lady Vols saw the court in the fourth stanza, as Tennessee closed out the win. Horston kept her strong night going with six points, while Walker netted five. Missouri’s offense finally found a groove, but the Tigers didn’t have enough to overcome the deficit.
UP NEXT: Tennessee is back on The Summitt this weekend, as it hosts in-state rival Vanderbilt in the Play4Kay game on Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena. The annual “pink” game is used to generate awareness and encourage fundraising efforts in the fight against breast cancer. Tip-off is scheduled for noon with tickets available at AllVols.com.
SCHEDULE UPDATE: There is a schedule change for the UT’s road game at South Carolina next Sunday. The Lady Vols and Gamecocks will now meet at 1 p.m. ET on ABC, with ESPN’s College GameDay slated to be on hand in Columbia. The match-up originally was scheduled to be televised by ESPN2 at noon.
ANOTHER 20-WIN SEASON: With the win over Missouri, Tennessee improved its record to 20-4 and reached 20 wins for the 44th time in 48 years. Kellie Harper now has recorded nine 20-win seasons as a head coach, including two of her three at the helm of the Lady Volunteers, with last year’s 17-win campaign coming because of reduced game totals due to COVID cancellations.
HORSTON HAS IT:Jordan Horston finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds, carding her team-leading 11th double-double of the season and her seventh 20-point effort of the year. For the junior, it was her fourth 20-point performance in the past five games.
KEY RACKING UP BLOCKS: Junior center Tamari Key tallied seven blocked shots on the night, marking her third effort of seven blocks or more on the season. She now has 88 swats for the 2021-22 campaign, moving her past her own total of 86 in 2019-20 and the 86 of Candace Parker in 2005-06 into fifth place on the UT season list. She now has 246 for her career, trailing second-place Sheila Frost (249) by only three and school record-holder Candace Parker (275) by 29.
T3SS FOR THR33: Sophomore Tess Darby finished with 12 points and carded her fourth game this season in double figures, connecting on four of seven three-point attempts. She is now 20 of 42 from long range in SEC play for 47.6 percent and is 36 of 95 for the year for a 37.9 percentage.
RAE IN DOUBLE FIGURES AGAIN: Rae Burrell finished with 11 points vs. Missouri and turned in her sixth double-figure scoring effort in the last eight games after working her way back from an early-season injury. In the other two games, Burrell was just shy of 10, with eight and nine, respectively.
TAKING BACK THE BOARDS: After coming up short vs. Florida and tying UConn in total rebounds, the Lady Vols outworked the Tigers 46-31 on the boards Thursday night. Tennessee now has won the rebounding battle in 21 of 24 contests and has had a double-digit advantage in 18 of those 24. UT’s 18 offensive boards led to a 13-4 edge in second-chance points.
-UT Athletics
