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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – All 14 active Lady Vols contributed toward Tennessee’s 99 points, as it cruised past UCF in Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday, 99-64.
With the 35-point triumph, head coach Kellie Harper‘s squad put its third straight decision in the win column and collected its fifth victory during a six-game home stand.
Tennessee (7-5) was led by senior Jordan Horston, who turned in 15 points and seven rebounds in pacing UT in scoring for the sixth time on the campaign. Freshman Justine Pissott was also in double figures, posting a career-high 14 points on 63 percent shooting from the floor. Graduate Jasmine Franklin tallied a season-best 10 rebounds to set the tone on the boards.
Three players were in double figures for the Knights (6-3), with Mya Burns, Sierra Godbolt, and Laila Jewett finishing with 12, 11, and 10 points, respectively.
Burns put UCF on the board first, knocking down a short jumper 18 seconds into the contest, but Tennessee took the lead two and a half minutes later, going up 6-4 off three straight buckets by Horston. The Knights reclaimed the lead off five quick points by Jewett, but an old-fashioned three-point play by Franklin put the Lady Vols on top 10-9 by the 4:13 mark. Horston and Pissott hit 3-pointers on back-to-back plays, while their squad limited UCF to twos on the other end, giving UT its largest advantage of the quarter at 16-13. The Knights closed out the period with an 8-4 run to lead 21-20 at the end of the first.
Pissott opened the second quarter with another trey, and Horston followed it up with a layup to put UT ahead by four two minutes into play. Tennessee maintained that lead through the media timeout, but Burns knocked down a 3-pointer coming out of the break to pull UCF within one with 4:43 left in the half. Tennessee responded with a 5-0 run fueled by Jasmine Powell and Jordan Walker to lead 36-30 less than a minute later. Bryana Hardy responded with a three-point play on the other end, and the teams would trade baskets through the end of the half with UT’s three-point advantage holding at 41-38.
Horston and Tess Darby combined for five points coming out of halftime, stretching the Lady Vols lead to eight just over a minute into the half. The Knights countered with a bucket on the other end, but Sara Puckett hit back-to-back treys to kick off a 14-2 Big Orange run that put UT ahead 60-42 by the 6:06 mark. Burns ended the UCF drought with a layup on the next play, and the game became a back-and-forth affair until Tess Darby hit a 12-foot jumper that was the first of eight straight Lady Vol points that put UT up by 24 with just under two minutes left in the third. That margin would hold until Rickea Jackson knocked down a trey before the buzzer to send the game into the final quarter with Tennessee ahead by 27 at 75-48.
Hardy scored the first bucket of the fourth for Central Florida, but UT responded with a 14-0 run that was contributed to by six different Lady Vols in claiming a 89-50 lead with 6:10 to play. Godbolt and Brown strung together six straight points for the Knights to pull within 33, but that’s as close as they’d get as Tennessee’s reserves closed out the game to take a 99-64 victory.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will hit the road to take on No. 2 Stanford on Sunday at Maples Pavilion. Game time is set for 3 p.m. ET (noon PT), and the contest will be aired on ABC.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will hit the road to take on No. 2 Stanford on Sunday at Maples Pavilion. Game time is set for 3 p.m. ET (noon PT), and the contest will be aired on ABC.
ANOTHER THIRD-QUARTER OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: Tennessee’s 34 points in the third period tied for seventh all-time for most points in a quarter. The Lady Vols shot 57.9 percent from the floor, going 11 of 19 and hitting five of seven beyond the arc in that frame. That effort followed up a third period last game vs. Wright State in which they shot 84.6 on 11 of 13 overall field goals to tally 27 points.
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: The Lady Vols committed only six turnovers vs. UCF, marking the fewest in the Kellie Harper era. The previous record for fewest turnovers during Harper’s tenure occurred on two occasions, most recently against Wright State (12/11/22) and last season versus Belmont (3/21/22) when the Big Orange had nine. Wednesday night’s total was the fewest turnovers in a game by Tennessee since the 2017-18 season, when UT had only four miscues against Alabama State (12/3/17).
KEEPING IT CLEAN, BACK-TO-BACK: The Lady Vols’ six turnovers against UCF paired with Tennessee’s nine versus Wright State (12/11/22) marked back-to-back games with single-digit turnovers. The last time Tennessee had two consecutive contests with single-digit turnovers was in 2016-17, when it posted only eight against Alabama in the SEC Tournament (3/2/17) and nine versus Dayton in the NCAA Tournament (3/18/17).
TESS FOR THREE: Tess Darby hit two 3-pointers against the Knights, recording her fifth game this season with two or more threes. The junior has notched 18 3-pointers this season and is shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc.
FRESHMAN POWER FROM PISSOTT: Justine Pissott scored a career-high 14 points while posting three rebounds and an assist. The freshman from Toms River, N.J., hit five of eight shots for 63-percent accuracy, including 2-for-5 shooting beyond the arc, and knocked down a pair of free throws in as many attempts.
RUNNING WILD ON THE BREAK: Tennessee has been on a tear over the past five games on fast break opportunities. The Lady Vols have outscored their opponents 84-11 in that statistical category after building a 21-4 edge vs. UCF on Wednesday.
TURNING THE TIDE ON THE BOARDS: The Lady Vols were out-rebounded by UCF in the first half, 26-19, including 12-7 on the offensive end. After some halftime encouragement from head coach Kellie Harper, Tennessee turned up the intensity to produce a 29-9 advantage on the glass over the final 20 minutes, including 11-3 for o-boards. UT ended up winning the battle on the glass for the game, 48-35, marking the sixth straight game and the ninth time in 12 contests that they have bested their foes. Seven of those occasions were by double digits, including the 13-point edge vs. the Golden Knights.
-UT Athletics
