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Local 3 Sports Reporter
Tennessee pushed No. 5 Vanderbilt and led by as many as seven points in the third quarter, but the Commodores used 69-percent shooting in that period to separate from and defeat the Lady Vols, 87-77, in front of a crowd of 12,037 on hand for Senior Day at Food City Center.
UT (16-12, 8-8 SEC) was paced by 23 points from redshirt junior Talaysia Cooper, while senior forward Janiah Barker, senior guard Nya Robertson and senior forward Zee Spearman contributed 17, 12 and 10 points, respectively. Barker added a game-high eight boards as well.
VU (27-3, 13-3 SEC) got 34 points from Mikayla Blakes, 24 from Aubrey Galvan and 16 from Sacha Washington on the afternoon. Blakes finished six of nine beyond the arc, while Galvan was four of seven.
Tennessee struck first, building a 4-0 lead on a Mia Pauldo shake-and-bake jump shot and a jumper from Barker. After Vandy evened the score at 4-all with 7:46 left on a Washington layup, a Cooper three-pointer and a pair of Barker free throws sent the Big Orange into the 4:15 media break clutching a 9-6 lead. A Jaida Civil trey pushed the margin back to four at 12-8 with 3:30 left, but the Commodores worked their way into leads of 13-12 and 15-14 before a Robertson layup moved her squad back in front, 16-15, with 1:09 to go.
VU countered with a three from Blakes and a layup from Washington, though, to close out the first frame with a 20-16 edge. Vanderbilt built a five-point lead early in the second stanza, but a three-pointer and steal-and-score from Cooper evened things up at 24 with 6:40 to go.
A pair of Civil free throws and a Cooper steal and layup pulled the Lady Vols within one, 29-28, by the 4:53 media timeout. UT continued an 8-0 burst, with a Barker jumper and put-back and a Robertson jumper propelling UT in front, 34-29, with 2:42 left in the first half and forcing a Vandy timeout.
The Big Orange continued to pour on steam, getting a Cooper bucket off the glass, a Barker put-back, Cooper jumper and Barker top-of-the-key three before the buzzer to send the home team into the locker room with a 43-37 advantage.
After Vanderbilt scored first in third period on a Blakes layup, a Cooper deep ball pushed the Lady Vols ahead by seven, 46-39, just 32 seconds in. Vandy scrapped back and seized a 53-50 lead with 5:33 left, but a layup by Robertson and two more from Spearman lifted UT back on top, 56-55, at the 4:32 mark. Buckets by Blakes and Galvan, however, boosted the Commodores back in front, 59-56, heading into the 3:41 media timeout.
A pair of Pauldo free throws right out of the break after a flagrant one on Blakes trimmed the gap to one, 59-58, with 3:31 to go, but Vandy used an 8-0 run to close out the quarter and take a nine-point lead, 67-58, by the end of the third.
A Cooper step-back, a Civil layup and a three from Pauldo pulled Tennessee within five, 70-65, a minute and a half into the final stanza, but Vanderbilt responded with a 7-0 spree to build its largest lead at 12, 77-65, and force UT to ask for time with 6:39 remaining.
VU upped its lead to 15, 80-65, right out of the break, but the Lady Vols used a layup from Robertson, jumper from Barker, a layup from Spearman and two free throws from Spearman to pull within nine, 82-73, with 1:43 remaining. The Big Orange, though, could get no closer.
Talaysia Cooper led the Lady Vols with 23 points, marking the 12th time this season and the 26th time in her career she has paced UT in scoring. Cooper has hit double figures 24 times in 2025-26 and 52 times during her college career.
Cooper has been on fire recently, scoring 20 or more points in four out of her past six games. In her performance vs. Vanderbilt, she logged her fourth double-digit quarter this season, leading the way with 11 points in the second frame. Cooper’s four quarters with 10+ points tie for the team lead with Mia Pauldo and Janiah Barker.
Sunday was Senior Day for the Lady Vols, with Janiah Barker, Nya Robertson, Zee Spearman, Jersey Wolfenbarger and Kaiya Wynn being honored. The seniors combined to score 39 points and grab 14 caroms, which was 51 percent of Tennessee’s points and 44 percent of its rebounds. Barker (17 pts., 8 rebs.), Robertson (12 pts., 2 rebs.) and Spearman (10 pts., 4 rebs.) were the most productive of the quintet on the afternoon.
The SEC Office announced the 2026 women’s basketball tournament bracket on Sunday evening, and Tennessee has earned the No. 6 seed for next week’s event and will open play on Thursday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
The Lady Vols (16-12, 8-8 SEC), who last season tied for eighth and drew the No. 9 seed for the tourney, finished in a four-way tie for sixth place in the conference standings in 2025-26 at 8-8 and won the tie breaker over Ole Miss, Georgia and Kentucky for the highest spot.
UT will meet the winner of Wednesday night’s No. 11 seed Alabama (21-9, 7-9 SEC) vs. No. 14 seed Missouri (16-15, 4-12 SEC) contest at 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. The Big Orange defeated Alabama, 70-59, in Tuscaloosa on Jan. 18 and took care of Missouri on Feb. 12 in Knoxville, 98-53.
The winner of Tennessee’s Thursday night contest will advance to the quarterfinals and meet No. 3 seed Texas (28-3, 13-3 SEC) at 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday.
Local 3 Sports Reporter
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