Courtesy / UT Athletics
Game Recap: Women’s Basketball | February 04, 2024 | Kimberly Hood
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Lady Vols won their sixth straight game at home on Sunday, taking an 80-69 wire-to-wire victory over Missouri in front of a season-high crowd of 9,190 in Food City Center.
Senior Jewel Spear surpassed the 20-point mark for the third consecutive game to lead Tennessee (14-7, 7-2 SEC) with 22 points and a career-high-tying six assists and three steals on the day. Fifth-year senior Rickea Jackson turned in 19 points, scoring all of them in the first half, to eclipse 2,000 career points.
Junior Sara Puckett also had a strong showing with 15 points and five rebounds, as the Lady Vols took sole possession of second place in the SEC standings after a loss by Ole Miss vs. South Carolina on Sunday.
Missouri (11-11, 2-7 SEC) was led by Mama Dembele, who tallied 18 points and eight rebounds. Grace Slaughter, Ashton Judd and Hilke Feldrappe were also in double figures with 14, 12 and 11, respectively.
The Lady Vols jumped out to a 5-0 lead off buckets from Jackson and Puckett before Dembele put Mizzou on the board with a layup just over a minute into the game. The Tigers rallied within one a minute later, but a trey by Spear on the next possession gave UT a 10-6 advantage at the 7:38 mark. UM pulled within one twice more before Spear and Puckett combined for three straight threes to fuel a 9-2 run that boosted UT on top 21-13 with 3:30 left in the first. Dembele ended the skid for Mizzou, but Jackson hit UT’s sixth 3-pointer of the game 10 seconds later as UT outscored Missouri 7-2 over the final two and a half minutes to lead 28-17 after one.
A pair of free throws by Dembele to start the second quarter trimmed the deficit down to single digits, but Jackson answered with jumpers in the paint on consecutive plays to put UT ahead by 13 with 8:13 to go in the half. Slaughter and Judd rallied the Tigers with three straight treys, fueling a 9-2 run that pulled Mizzou within six at 34-28 two minutes later. Four quick points by Jackson stretched UT’s advantage back to double digits, a margin that would hold until Powell converted on a driving layup just before the buzzer to set the halftime score at 46-34.
Both teams struggled to hit shots at the outset of the second half, with neither team putting one through the net until Tamari Key hit a layup at the 7:49 mark. Key added another layup just over a minute later to extend UT’s lead to 16 before Abby Feit ended the drought for UM with a three with 6:12 left in the third. That bucket set off a 15-2 Mizzou run punctuated by a Slaughter 3-pointer that whittled UT’s lead down to four with three minutes to go. Puckett responded with a trey on the other end, and the Lady Vols closed out the quarter by outscoring the Tigers 11-0 to lead 63-49 at the end of three.
Karoline Striplin nailed a jumper to start the final stanza, and the teams swapped buckets until the 6:21 mark when Spear followed up a pair of Striplin free throws with a layup to fuel an 8-3 run that put the Lady Vols ahead by 19 with 4:39 to play. Missouri closed out the game by outscoring UT 13-6, as the Lady Vol reserves got some action, setting the final score at 80-69.
UP NEXT: Tennessee is back on the road for a midweek contest at Alabama on Thursday. The Lady Vols and Crimson Tide will meet in Coleman Coliseum at 7 p.m. ET (6 CT) in a contest streamed live on SECN+.
JACKSON ECLIPSES 2K: With her move through the lane and lay-up at the 3:33 mark of the second quarter, Rickea Jackson tallied her 19th point of the game and moved past 2,000 career points. She entered the game needing 18 to tie the mark and became the eighth Lady Vol all-time to reach that plateau. The list includes Chamique Holdsclaw (3,025, 1995-99), Jill Rankin (2,851, 1976-80), Bridgette Gordon (2,462, 1985-89), Patricia Roberts (2,447, 1973-77), Candace Parker (2,137, 2005-08), Tamika Catchings (2,113, 1997-2001), Meighan Simmons (2,064, 2010-14) and Jackson (2,001, 2022-24). Jackson joins Rankin and Roberts as the three transfer players to reach 2K with combined totals from two different schools. Jackson now has 916 points in her second season at Tennessee and registered 1,085 while at Mississippi State from 2019-22.
THREE STRAIGHT 20 SPOTS FOR SPEAR: Jewel Spear notched her third straight and sixth overall 20-point performance of the season, finishing with a game-high 22 vs. Missouri. She has combined for 77 points over her last three contests (starting with 30 vs. Ole Miss and 25 vs. Georgia), averaging 25.7 ppg. during that span. Spear is put up 13.8 ppg. overall and 17.4 in SEC play this season, ranking second on the team.
GETTING JAZZY WITH IT: Jasmine Powell continues to dish out assists at a high rate, recording her fifth-straight game and seventh in the last 11 with six dimes or more. Her six vs. the Tigers gave her 88 for the season for a 4.4 average and 36 over the past five games for a 7.2 apg. average. In SEC play, she has distributed 53 assists for a 5.9 per contest average.
FAST START: Tennessee burst out to a 28-17 first-quarter lead vs. Missouri, shooting 62.5 percent from the field over the opening 10 minutes. The point total and percentage were season highs for an opening period in 2023-24. UT also hit six of 10 three-point attempts, matching another opening-frame best that it achieved vs. EKU (6-10) on Nov. 27. The Lady Vols’ previous best for first-quarter field goal percentage was 56.3 percent at Florida State on Nov. 9, and their previous best point total was 27 at Ole Miss on Jan. 28.
BALL SECURITY: Tennessee started the afternoon with no turnovers in the first quarter. It followed that with none in the second stanza for the first flawless half of basketball all season long and at least since 2019-20. UT’s last period without a turnover prior to Sunday was the fourth quarter vs. South Carolina in the 2023 SEC Tournament championship game on March 5, 2023.
SERIES HISTORY: The Lady Vols won their seventh straight in the series vs. Missouri and hold a 15-3 all-time record vs. the Tigers. UT stands 7-1 in games played in Knoxville, 6-2 in Columbia and 2-0 at neutral sites. Kellie Harper has a 6-0 mark vs. Mizzou as Tennessee’s head coach.
