Rennia Davis scored all 24 of her points in the second half and No. 21 Tennessee beat second-placed South Carolina 75-67 on Thursday night, ending the 31-game winning streak at the Gamecocks conference.
The Lady Vols (13-5, 7-3 Southeastern Conference) came back from a double-digit deficit at the break to win Gamecocks (17-3, 12-1).
Rae Burrell scored 19 points for Lady Vols and Jordan Horston scored 11.
Aliyah Boston had 17 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Gamecocks. Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson scored 15 points each.
Losing three minutes in the fourth quarter, Lady Vols reworked nine consecutive points and went up 68-62. Tennessee never took its foot off the gas.
The 12-point lead in the South Carolina range evaporated in the third quarter. Davis, who didn’t score in the first half, scored 13 points to put Lady Vols into action.
Tennessee took the lead with 2:05 left when Davis drained a 3-point basket.
Leading by two in the middle of the second half, South Carolina had a 15-1 run and entered the break from above, 37-25. Boston scored four points on that shot and had 10 rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Henderson scored 10 points in the first half.
Burrell scored Tennessee’s first eight points in the game and made 12 at halftime.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: Despite a recent non-conference loss to Connecticut, Gamecocks are on their way to a No. 1 seed at the NCAA Tournament. With four players – Zia Cooke (15.8), Aliyah Boston (13.7), Destanni Henderson (11.6) and Victaria Saxton (10.0) – with a double-digit average, they have enough offensive weapons to cause problems teams.
NEXT
South Carolina: With just a few regular season games remaining, Gamecocks have a tough road. After playing at No. 21 Tennessee, they had fun at No. 17 Kentucky on Sunday. On the horizon next week is number 5 Texas A&M.
Tennessee: The Lady Vols have a virtually guaranteed spot in the NCAA Tournament. What they are playing now is sowing. While on this mission, Tennessee will travel to Georgia on Sunday.