ATHENS, Ga. – No. 19/17 Tennessee battled back from an eight-point first-half deficit and hit 10 of 12 free throws in the extra frame to fight off Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum and claim a gritty, 82-77 road win in overtime on Thursday night.
Senior forward Zee Spearman fired in 23 points in her return to the Peach State, tallying eight of UT’s 14 in the extra period. The Dacula, Ga., native was joined in double figures by freshman guard Mia Pauldo with 21 and redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper with 16. Marietta, Ga., product Janiah Barker pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to go with her nine points and three blocked shots, as the Big Orange improved to 15-5 overall and 7-1 in SEC play. Tennessee joins South Carolina as the only teams in league play with only one loss.
Dani Carnegie, who sent the game to overtime with three free throws with five seconds remaining, finished with 25 points for the Lady Bulldogs (18-5, 4-5 SEC), while Rylie Theuerkauf and Mia Woolfolk added 15 and 14, respectively.
Tennessee got on the scoreboard first on a Zee Spearman free throw and built a pair of four-point leads, including a 9-5 edge on a Spearman three-pointer with 6:12 remaining in the first quarter, before Georgia evened it up at 9-9 by the 4:14 media break on a Zhen Craft turnaround jumper. A Barker turnaround shot off the glass pushed the Lady Vols back ahead, 11-9, but three free throws by Carnegie gave the Bulldogs the lead, 12-11, with 2:34 to go. A driving layup by Pauldo and a steal and score from Cooper boosted the Big Orange back on top at 15-12, and UT closed out the opening stanza with a 15-14 advantage.
UGA grabbed its largest lead at 19-15 on a Miyah Verse bucket with 9:19 remaining in the second period, and UT was able to trim the margin to two, 19-17, on a driving Pauldo layup before the 4:56 media timeout. Georgia put together an 8-2 run out of that break to build a 27-19 lead with 2:59 to go, but UT used a barrage of threes from Nya Robertson, Pauldo and Cooper and closed an 8-0 spree with a layup and then a trey from Mia Pauldo via a kick-out pass from Cooper to seize a 33-31 lead at the half.
After Georgia scored first after the intermission, the Lady Vols got a steal and score from Spearman and then the Dacula native hit a three-ball to move her team ahead, 38-33, and force a Bulldogs timeout with 7:32 left in the third. UGA trimmed the margin to two twice, but buckets by Jaida Civil and Spearman enabled Tennessee to take a 42-38 lead into the 4:55 media break. A Cooper three soon after the stoppage provided the Big Orange a 45-38 lead, and Lauren Hurst’s trey at the 2:39 mark made it a six-point game, 48-42. A Theuerkauf three-pointer cut it to three, 48-45, before a free throw from Pauldo sent the team into the final frame with UT clinging to a 49-45 advantage.
Threes by Alyssa Latham and Cooper gave the Lady Vols a 55-49 lead with 8:29 left in the fourth period, but Georgia worked its way back to a tie, getting a corner three from Savannah Henderson to knot the score at 57 and force a Tennessee timeout with 6:49 to go. UT grabbed a pair of three-point leads, 60-57, on a Barker three with 5:18 remaining and 62-59 on a Spearman layup at the 4:23 mark. Georgia battled back, though, cutting it to 64-63 with 1:02 to go and 66-65 with 12 seconds left on Woolfolk layups. UT countered with pairs of free throws each time, getting two from Spearman and Pauldo, with the latter giving the Big Orange a 68-65 advantage with eight ticks left. A foul on a three-point attempt by Carnegie sent her to the line, and she drained all three with five seconds left to tie it at 68. A last-second shot by Cooper was off the mark, sending the game to overtime.
Tennessee scored the first six points of the extra frame, getting two more pairs of free throws from Pauldo and Spearman and then moving ahead 74-68 with 3:23 remaining on a Spearman layup off a feed from Cooper. Down the stretch, Georgia pulled to within three twice. Tennessee, though, hit its charity tosses to hold off Georgia, with Pauldo hitting four free throws and Spearman draining her two attempts to close out the victory.
NEXT UP
Tennessee next heads to Columbia to take on No. 3/3 South Carolina (23-2, 9-1 SEC) at Colonial Life Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Vols and Gamecocks will meet at 3 p.m. ET in a contest televised nationally on ABC. The game also will be carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming available on UTSports.com. Coverage on 95.5FM The Jewel begins at 2:30pm.
