KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee women’s basketball took on Eastern Kentucky inside Food City Center on Sunday.
Shots weren’t falling for the Lady Vols early on in the first quarter. The team went on a five-and-a-half-minute scoring drought until Karoline Striplin hit a jump shot to make it a 6-2 game.
Tamari Key entered the game with 1:48 left in the first quarter. She had an and-one and back-to-back blocks within that time to give the Lady Vols a seven-point lead before the start of the second quarter.
EKU was able to catch up towards the middle of the second quarter, but Tennessee remained in the lead. Striplin sank a three to extend the lead to 33-24 with about four left in the quarter.
Puckett made a nice pass to Striplin in the paint for two to give the Lady Vols a ten-point lead, 36-26.
EKU caught up and reduced the lead to five. The score going into the half was 36-31, and Striplin led in scoring with 13.
In the third quarter, EKU’s Antwainette Walker made two nice jumpers to cut into Tennessee’s lead, 53-49.
An EKU three from Alice Recanati made it a one-point game, but Tennessee went on an 8-0 run immediately after to give them back a nine-point lead.
From then on, their shots started hitting and Tennessee was leading by double digits with less than a minute on the clock.
Jewel Spear scored 0 points in the first half – but led in scoring with 12 in the second. Striplin led in scoring for the second game in a row with 17 points.
The final score was 72-63.
The Lady Vols play Wofford at home on Dec. 19. That game starts at 6:30 p.m. inside Food City Center.
