AUBURN, Ala. – Redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper and senior forward Janiah Barker combined for 35 points on Sunday afternoon, leading No. 23/22 Tennessee past Auburn in SEC action, 73-56, at Neville Arena.
Cooper fired in a game-high 18 points, while Barker scored 17 and added a game-best eight rebounds as the Lady Vols (10-3, 2-0 SEC) won their third straight game and fifth time in the past six contests. Freshman guards Mia and Mya Pauldo finished with nine and eight points, respectively, with Mya leading UT’s season-best 42.9-percent three-point shooting with 3-of-3 accuracy and Mia knocking down two of six.
Auburn (11-5, 0-2) was paced by Khady Leye, who tossed in 14 points and grabbed six boards.
Tennessee jumped out to an 11-4 lead by the 4:37 media break in the first stanza, shooting 66.7 percent during the early going to Auburn’s 18.2 percent, with Cooper and Mia Pauldo knocking down threes to fuel the attack. Mia Pauldo added another trey at the 2:46 mark to make it 14-7, and then treys by Mya Pauldo and Cooper and a pair of free throws by Barker closed out a 22-9 Lady Vol first frame.
Back-to-back buckets by Barker pushed UT’s advantage to 15, 28-13, with 7:43 left in the second quarter before Auburn began to whittle away at the deficit, cutting the gap to 29-22 with a 7-0 run into the 4:50 media timeout. The Lady Vols, though, responded immediately out of the break via a paint jumper and three-ball from Nya Robertson to make it 34-24 at the 3:07 mark. A layup by Cooper, another Mya Pauldo three and a fast-break layup by Zee Spearman via a dime from Mya Pauldo propelled the Big Orange to a 41-26 lead at the intermission. UT shot 56-percent over the opening 20 minutes, which was the best first half allowed by Auburn this season.
Auburn hit five of eight shots in the early stages of the third period and outscored Tennessee, 11-8, in the first five and a half minutes to trim the margin to 49-37 with 4:42 to go. Barker went to work to right the ship, though, scoring eight straight of her 11 in the quarter to enable UT to build a 57-37 lead with 1:57 remaining. While Tennessee held Auburn scoreless for a 4:26 stretch during the frame, the visitors from Rocky Top closed out the period with a Deniya Prawl layup and pair of Cooper free throws to carry a 61-38 advantage into the final quarter.
The Lady Vols and Tigers traded baskets at the outset of the fourth stanza, with a Jaida Civil three-pointer and a Cooper layup pushing Tennessee into the 4:53 media break with a 66-44 lead. Auburn closed out the game with an 11-7 edge, but the Big Orange had the final say on the day with Mya Pauldo’s third three-pointer of the game ending things at 73-56.
NEXT UP
Tennessee plays its second straight on the road on Thursday, traveling to Starkville to take on Mississippi State. The Lady Vols and Bulldogs will meet at 7:30 p.m. ET at Humphrey Coliseum. The contest will be broadcast on SEC Network and carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming on UTSports.com. Coverage from 99.5FM WGRV begins at 7pm.
