Lady Vols basketball falls to Vanderbilt for only the second time in Knoxville – Knoxville News Sentinel

Lady Vols basketball ended the regular season with a sixth straight loss after leading by six points at halftime.
Tennessee couldn’t stop Vanderbilt’s star duo of Mikayla Blakes and Aubrey Galvan, who scored 34 and 24 points, respectively, and the Lady Vols (16-12, 8-8 SEC) lost 87-77 to No. 5 Vanderbilt (27-3, 13-3) at Food City Center on March 1. It’s only the second win ever by Vanderbilt in Knoxville.
Tennessee finished 8-8 in SEC play for the second straight season.
The Lady Vols couldn’t gain an edge with turnovers, committing 13 total that led to 24 points for Vanderbilt. Tennessee scored 18 points off 14 forced turnovers. The Commodores also outshot Tennessee from deep, going 11-for-22 while the Lady Vols shot 6-for-21.
Talaysia Cooper led the team with 22 points on 10-for-20 shooting with three assists, two rebounds and three steals. Janiah Barker added 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting with eight rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Vanderbilt has now won three straight games against Tennessee. The Commodores beat the Lady Vols twice last season. They won the regular-season matchup by one point at the buzzer and then beat Tennessee 84-76 in the SEC Tournament.
Even with the loss, Tennessee will be a top 8 seed in the SEC Tournament and have a bye. The Lady Vols will begin play in the SEC Tournament on March 5.
The Lady Vols have struggled in third quarters all season, and Vanderbilt was not an exception. Tennessee got outscored 30-15 and trailed 67-58 going into the fourth quarter.
Vanderbilt shot 65% from the field and scored 12 points off six forced turnovers. It also outrebounded Tennessee 8-2.
The Commodores came out of halftime on a mission and erased Tennessee’s lead in four minutes. The Lady Vols responded to stop the momentum, scoring a quick four points on a nice assist from Talaysia Cooper to Zee Spearman before Janiah Barker got a steal in the press and assisted a second bucket for Spearman.
Vanderbilt hit a jumper on the other end, though, to make the lead 59-56 at the media timeout with 3:31 left in the third.
Tennessee had the ball for the last possession of the first half and Janiah Barker drained her 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 43-37 lead into halftime. The Lady Vols outscored Vanderbilt 27-17 in the second quarter.
Barker led all scorers with 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting and Talaysia Cooper was right behind her with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Tennessee held Mikayla Blakes to 11 points in the first half and outrebounded the Commodores 21-17.
Talaysia Cooper came alive in the second quarter, scoring seven of her 10 points. Cooper went 3-for-3 in the second, including a steal and score off Mikayla Blakes.
Tennessee trailed Vanderbilt 29-28 at the media timeout with 4:53 left in the second.
The Commodores went on a quick 7-2 run to end the first quarter and take a 20-16 lead. Vanderbilt shot 43% from the field in the first and Tennessee only shot 30%.
The Lady Vols got off to a strong start before their offense slowed down. But they still led 9-6 at the media timeout with 4:15 left in the first quarter and had forced a pair of turnovers.
Janiah Barker led the team in the opening minutes with four points.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks: subscribe.knoxnews.com/offers
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