LYNCHBURG, Va. — Tennessee defeated Liberty in a 90-55 matchup inside Liberty Arena on Sunday afternoon.
The win comes after a long 12-day winter break, which allowed the Lady Vols to adjust with point guard Destinee Wells out for the season.
Tennessee's starting five players were Rickea Jackson, Jewel Spear, Sara Puckett, Karoline Striplin and Jasmine Powell.
This was Rickea Jackson's second game back from a lower leg injury she suffered earlier in the season.
Striplin and Powell made the Lady Vols first 10 points in the first quarter, while the Lady Flames struggled to score on an impressive Tennessee defense.
Powell hit the first three of the day with confidence from beyond the arc. Soon after, a Jackson jumper paired with a Tess Darby three extended Tennessee's lead further, 18-7, with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
It was Jackson and Darby again with a three each to continue building on the Lady Vol's double-digit lead. At this point, Liberty only had nine points on the board. Meanwhile, Jackson led with nine points of her own.
Tennessee was shooting 41 percent from the field and was 4-9 from the three-point line. Liberty was struggling on offense, only completing 26.7 percent of its shots.
With 6:45 left in the second quarter, Tennessee went on a two-minute scoring drought, but an and one from Jackson made it a 16-point game, 30-14.
After grabbing an offensive board, Striplin dished it out to Darby for a pretty three. Soon after, she hit another one from the corner to keep Liberty down by 15. She was 4-5 from beyond the arc with 3:30 left in half.
Darby had 12 points in the first half. She has yet to knock down more than 10 points in an entire game all season, but she was 4-5 from beyond the arc going into the second half.
The Lady Vols led by nearly 20 points at the half, 43-24.
Tennessee extended its lead by 26 with a Jillian Hollingshead second-chance reverse layup with 2:50 left in the third.
Darby hit two more triples on the day. By the end, she went 6-9 from beyond the arc.
Four Lady Vols scored in double figures. Jackson led with 21, and Darby had a career-high 18 with all her points coming from the three. Kaiya Winn picked up 12 and Striplin had 10. This was Striplin's fourth straight game scoring in double-digits.
Tennessee remained in the lead for the entire game and every player who checked in scored at least one point.
Next up the team gets into SEC play against Auburn on Jan. 4. This win against Liberty should give the team a lot of momentum on the road in that game and as it gets closer to March.
