Lady Vols are 7-0 in SEC after beating Georgia

Clutch defense extends Lady Vols’ winning streak

ATHENS, Ga. — Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said her team’s defense deserves credit for the comeback win that kept the Lady Volunteers unbeaten in the Southeastern Conference.

As for Tennessee’s return to the upper echelon of women’s college basketball?

Georgia coach Joni Taylor is pretty sure Harper has plenty to do with that.

Jordan Horston scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the fifth-ranked Lady Vols overcame a sluggish first half Sunday afternoon to beat No. 13 Georgia 63-55 at Stegeman Coliseum, a key league matchup and the 71st edition of what Taylor called “one of the grand old rivalries.”

The Lady Bulldogs were denied what would have been their first three-game winning streak in the series since 198486, and Tennessee extended its overall advantage to 52-19.

Taylor played at Alabama and was an assistant for the Crimson Tide, LSU and Georgia before taking over in 2015 after the retirement of longtime Lady Dogs coach Andy Landers. Harper, who won three national championships as a point guard for Pat Summitt in the late 1990s, returned to her alma mater as the head coach in 2019.

“They’re playing the best basketball I’ve seen Tennessee play in a long time,” Taylor said, “and credit to her.”

Georgia did not score in the final 4:10 and missed its last 10 shots from the field. Notably, Tamari Key, the Lady Vols’ 6-foot-6 center who had been listed as questionable due to an

ankle injury incurred a week earlier against Kentucky, was on the floor during the decisive closing stretch.

“We had Tamari in the game for that period, and that made a difference,” Harper said. “… I told our team we won this one with our defense.”

Tennessee (18-1, 7-0) trailed by nine points late in the first half before recovering for its ninth consecutive win.

The Lady Vols are off to their best beginning since a 22-1 start to the the 2007-08 season, when they won their most recent of eight national championships. They held on to their status as the SEC’s lone team without a league loss this season, and this is their best start in the conference since opening 13-0 in 2014-15.

Burrell had 13 points and five rebounds in her first start and sixth game back since missing almost two months due to a knee injury that occurred in the season opener. Key and Alexus Dye each chipped in eight points, Dye with nine rebounds and Key with five blocks.

Jenna Staiti led Georgia (15-4, 4-3) with 16 points and Que Morrison added 14. They shared the Georgia lead with six rebounds apiece and matched three other teammates with three assists apiece. Staiti also had two blocks and Morrison grabbed two steals.

Morrison’s free throw for Georgia cut Tennessee’s lead to 57-55, but those were the final points for the Lady Bulldogs, who shot 33% from the field.

While limited perhaps more by foul problems than the ankle injury that kept her out of practice this past week, Key played only 21 minutes. The junior made the most of her playing time, though, by changing Georgia’s shots near the basket.

“I’m used to it, I’ve played against her so many times,” said Staiti, a 6-foot-4 senior. “Having someone taller than me … she does a great job of altering my shot. At the last second she’s tipping it.”

A basket by Morrison allowed Georgia to match its biggest lead of nine points at 32-23. Tennessee then scored the final eight points of the first half, capped by a buzzer-beating drive by Horston, to cut the Lady Bulldogs’ advantage to one heading into the locker room.

“We stopped complaining,” Horston said. “We stopped letting the refs get in our heads. We were mad about some stuff. We can’t play like that. We started playing tough, started crashing the boards.”

The Lady Vols rank last in the SEC with a minus-2.61 turnover margin, and giveaways were a problem. Their 21 turnovers, including 15 in the first half, led to 18 points — all in the first half — for Georgia. The Lady Vols scored 25 points off Georgia’s 18 turnovers.

Horston, who posted her team-leading ninth double-double of the season, blocked five shots and had four assists and three steals.

“She did everything for us,” Harper said. “That’s what she’s been doing recently.”

Tennessee backup center Kenyen Green was escorted to the locker room with an apparent knee injury after a hard fall late in the third quarter. Harper said after the game she had no update on Green’s status.

The Lady Vols visit Auburn (8-9, 0-6) at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday.

Georgia returns to competition next Sunday at Ole Miss (17-2, 5-1).