KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Athletics Department announced Thursday that women’s basketball season tickets for 2021-22 home games are now on sale.
Thompson-Boling Arena will offer full-capacity attendance for the upcoming season. Reserved season tickets start at $115 and are available at AllVols.com. Benefits include the same location for all regular-season home games, discounts on additional home game tickets when they go on sale in October and first opportunity to request or purchase postseason tickets.
Also available now to Lady Vol fans is the fan favorite $125 Lady Vol Pass. An alternative to the traditional season ticket that allows fans to secure seats to all 2021-22 regular season home games, the Lady Vol Pass enables fans to select seats from the remaining inventory no later than 48 hours prior to each home game.
Highlighting the list of exciting non-conference teams slated to visit The Summitt this year are defending national champion Stanford and perennial NCAA Tournament participants Texas and South Florida. Complete schedule information will be released at a later date.
The Lady Vols have finished their past two seasons third in the SEC after being picked to wind up in the middle of the pack while undergoing a roster makeover. They advanced to the NCAA Second Round and posted a 17-8 overall record and 9-4 SEC mark in 2020-21 despite losing two starters to injury during the campaign. In the final rankings, UT stood at No. 13 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
Kellie Harper‘s third edition on Rocky Top, which was ranked No. 18 in ESPN’s 2021-22 Way-Too-Early Top 25 back on April 4, will feature six returning players with experience in the starting lineup. It also will showcase five newcomers, including another experienced starter in the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year as well as a highly-touted recruiting class.
Tennessee is led by 6-foot-1 All-SEC Second Team guard/forward and national awards candidate Rae Burrell, the SEC’s fifth-highest returning scorer at 16.8 points per game. Right behind her are Tamari Key, a 6-6 junior center who made the 2021 SEC All-Defensive Team, and 6-2 junior guard Jordan Horston, with that duo producing 8.9 points, 5.6 blocks and 2.9 blocks per game and 8.6 ppg., 3.9 rpg. and 4.2 apg., respectively.
Graduate student guard Jordan Walker split time as UT’s starting point guard with Horston and put up 5.4 ppg., 4.5 rpg. and 2.3 apg. a year ago. Returning from injury are 6-1 graduate forward/center Keyen Green (6.8 ppg., 3.0 rpg.) and 6-2 guard/forward Marta Suárez (4.1 ppg., 3.6 rpg.). Green started the first four games before her season ended due to injury, while Suárez got 14 starts under her belt and displayed her skills enough to earn SEC All-Freshman accolades despite an injury shortening her campaign.
UT’s nine returning letterwinners also include 6-1 sophomore guard/forward Tess Darby (2.3 ppg.), who came on late in the year after an injury slowed her progress, and veteran reserves 6-5 junior center Emily Saunders (0.8 ppg., 1.1 rpg.) and 5-8 junior guard Jessie Rennie (0.7 ppg., 0.7 rpg.).
Alexus Dye, a dynamic 6-0 graduate transfer forward from Troy University, adds talent and yet another experienced starter to the roster. She averaged 16.6 ppg. and 12.6 rpg. last season while leading the NCAA in double-doubles (23) and total rebounds (352). Of further note, she averaged 23.0 ppg. and 11.0 rpg. while playing against SEC schools Texas A&M and Mississippi State in 2020-21.
The incoming class includes four potential contributors. Brooklynn Miles, a 5-4 point guard and Miss Basketball from Frankfort, Ky., and 6-2 guard/forward Sara Puckett of Muscle Shoals, Ala., were Gatorade Players of the Year in their respective states. Karoline Striplin, a 6-3 forward from Hartford, Ala., split the vote with Puckett in the Yellowhammer State by being chosen as Miss Basketball. She and Puckett each garnered All-America honorable mention accolades from the WBCA.
UT’s fourth freshman, 6-0 guard Kaiya Wynn, impressively earned Texas 5A Player of the Year honors in season one in the Lone Star State after moving there from Ensworth High School in Nashville prior to her senior year. She and Puckett both were selected to play in the PassThaBall Who’s NXT All-American Game in San Antonio during the Women’s Final Four.
The coaching staff has two new faces. To go along with returning assistant Jon Harper, Kellie Harper added veteran aides Samantha Williams and Joy McCorvey to her program. Williams, who features impressive career stops at DePaul, Duke and Louisville, came to UT after two seasons as head coach at Eastern Kentucky. McCorvey, meanwhile, joined UT after serving the past three years at Florida State and also has six years’ experience at Michigan and another at St. John’s. She served in the role of associate head coach a year ago at FSU, underscoring the valuable wisdom possessed by the new additions to Harper’s staff.
-UT Athletics
