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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee bounced back from a pair of setbacks to top-five teams, utilizing solid defense and timely buckets to secure a 65-51 wire-to-wire victory over Ole Miss in Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday night to improve to 9-1 in Southeastern Conference play.
Senior guard Jordan Horston was the game’s top scorer with 20 points, adding seven rebounds and five assists. Senior forward Rickea Jackson was also in double digits for UT (17-8, 9-1 SEC) with 16, while 5-foot-8 graduate guard Jordan Walker paced the Big Orange on the boards with eight to go along with a game-high four steals, four assists and six points.
Angel Baker and Marquesha Davis led UM (18-5, 7-3 SEC) with 14 and 11 points, respectively, as Tennessee held the Rebels to their lowest point production of the season. The 51 points by Ole Miss also represents the fewest surrendered by UT in league play and the second fewest of the season behind the 39 they allowed Chattanooga on December 6.
Jackson hit a layup 40 seconds into the contest, as Tennessee opened the game with three straight buckets to lead 6-0 by the 6:33 mark. UT held the Rebels without a point for nearly four minutes until Snudda Collins knocked down a jumper to get UM on the board. Ole Miss hit just two field goals in the first quarter but found some success at the free-throw line as the Lady Vols jumped out to a 15-8 lead at the end of one.
Davis scored the first bucket of the second period to get UM into double digits, but Walker drained a three to log the first points of a 6-0 run that put UT on top by 11 with 6:11 left in the half. Ayanna Thompson responded with a trey on Ole Miss’ next possession to kickstart an 11-5 scoring streak that had the Rebels within five at 26-21 with 2:23 on the clock. Horston hit the last points of the half from the charity stripe, sending Tennessee into the locker room with a 28-21 lead.
The Rebels scrapped within four in the opening minutes of the second half while holding UT without a basket for nearly two and a half minutes before Karolina Striplin found Horston streaking into the lane for an open layup. Striplin followed that up with a 3-pointer 20 seconds later to put the Lady Vols up 33-26 at the 7:18 mark. The teams swapped buckets for the next three minutes until Horston and Jasmine Franklin combined for six straight points to put Tennessee up 43-32 with 1:24 left in the third. Madison Scott finished the quarter with a layup to end a nearly four-minute UM scoring slump and send the game into the final stanza with Tennessee on top, 43-34.
Horston drained back-to-back jumpers at the start of the fourth to quickly extend the Lady Vols’ lead to 13. Baker and Davis responded by stringing together a 7-0 run for the Rebels to narrow UT’s advantage to 47-41 with 7:01 to play. With 5:40 left in the game Jackson came up with a steal and was fouled on the fast break, turning it into two points from the free-throw line, and Horston followed it up with a layup on the fast break on the next play to give UT a 10-point cushion by the media timeout. Following the break, UT outscored UM 12-4 over a three-minute span to expand its lead to as many as 18 before closing the game out with a 65-51 victory.
UP NEXT: Tennessee will travel to Starkville for its second straight Monday night matchup, facing Mississippi State in a 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT contest that will be broadcast on SEC Network.
FIREY FIRST-QUARTER DEFENSE: Tennessee limited Ole Miss to eight points in the opening frame, marking the seventh time this season Tennessee has held an opponent to a single-digit point total in the first quarter, including four times in SEC play. The Lady Vol defense harassed the Rebels into 2-for-17 shooting (11.8 percent) in the period.
HOLLINGSHEAD ON THE HUNT: Sophomore forward Jillian Hollingshead, who produced nine points and five rebounds in 22 minutes vs. Ole Miss, has averaged 8.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over the last four games. She has hit 14 of 22 field goal attempts for a 63.6 percentage.
CAPITALIZING ON SECOND CHANCES: Tennessee outscored the Rebels 17-4 in second chance points (via 19 offensive rebounds), marking the 18th time this season the Lady Vols have gotten the better of their opponent. This was the ninth time in 10 SEC contests that UT has won this statistical category.
THE DYNAMIC DUO CONTINUES: Jordan Horston and Rickea Jackson again set the tone for Tennessee, with Horston recording her sixth 20-point game and 20th double-figure effort of the season. She now is averaging 15.7 ppg. for the year. Jackson, meanwhile, scored in double figures for the 21st time. She is averaging 17.7 for the season and has eight 20-point games to her credit to lead the Lady Vols in 2022-23.
-UT Athletics
