KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Senior Rennia Davis scored 24 points in the second half, while No. 21 Tennessee eliminated a 12-point deficit in the break to defeat South Carolina’s No. 2 at Thompson-Boling Arena 75-67.
The win broke a 31 game SEC streak for the Gamecocks and marked UT’s first win over one of the top five since an 82-75 victory over No. 2/4 Texas, 82-75, in Knoxville on 10 December, 2017
Davis added 12 rebounds to record the 36th double-double of his career. Junior Rae Burrell was also in double digits for Tennessee (13-5, 7-3) with 19 points, and Jordan Horston shot 12 points and five assists with no turn in the night.
South Carolina (17-3, 12-1) was led by Aliyah Boston, who made a double-double with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson were the other top scorers, with 15 bets each.
Burrell gave Lady Vols a spark earlier, arriving with the theft and scoring in less than 30 seconds at stake and following him with jumpers in the next two possessions to give UT a 6-2 lead two minutes later. Brea Beal and Cooke combined to equalize at six each by the 5:47 mark, but Burrell responded with a tray on the next trip to score his eighth consecutive point and regain the lead for Tennessee. South Carolina again drew with a Victaria Saxton tray just before the break for the media, but Tamari Key scored her first points in the game with a pass from Horston to make the score 10-8 with 3:38 by the end of the first. Henderson scored in two consecutive games to give the USC the first advantage of the game with 12-10 at the 1:51 mark. The teams exchanged buckets until the end of the quarter with Gamecocks maintaining their two-point advantage in the final seconds until Horston hit a jumper on the buzzer to tie the score at 16 for everyone.
South Carolina had its lead built back to four in the second minute. Buckets from Kasiyahna Kushkituah and Key pulled UT in twice, before Boston and Henderson added five points to put the USC 27-20 with 5:48 remaining in the break. After the break for the media, South Carolina extended its run to 15-1 to lead by 16, 37-21, by the 1:43 mark. Burrell and Kushkituah added baskets each to close the semester with four consecutive points, reducing the halftime score to 37-25.
The second half started in much the same way as the first, with Burrell scoring in a driving layout on UT’s first ball possession. Rennia Davis followed with a series of free throws in the next possession, reducing the USC’s lead to single digits at 37-29. Gamecocks recovered with a 7-0 run culminating in a Henderson trey before Kushkituah turned to Tennessee, hitting a tray to detonate a 6-0 Lady Vol race and make the score 44-35 by the media. South Carolina extended its lead to double digits with a Cooke jumper after the timeout, but Davis and Horston scored seven straight for UT to narrow the gap to four with 2:48 left in the stanza. Boston converted two free throws to move the score to 48-42, but a quick withdrawal from Destiny Salary and a three-point move from Jordan Walker in the next possession left Lady Vols one with just over two minutes remaining in the third. A minute later, UT claimed its first advantage in the second half, rising 51-50 after a Horston layup. Tennessee maintained the lead by one point until the final seconds, when a Boston jumper sent the game into the final period with a USC advantage of 54-53.
South Carolina moved away by four in the first minutes of the fourth minute, but Burrell hit a clutch with a 7:25 left to end the game to pull UT back in one, and two minutes later Davis added three to tie in 62-everything. Walker gave UT the advantage on a tray at the next possession, and Horston and Key added a free throw to extend the lead to four with just over four minutes to go. Davis increased UT’s lead to six before the USC reduced it back to three on the free-throw line. Horston hit a tray at the 1:38 mark, and Davis recovered a rebound from the other side and equalized the free kick, hitting both free throws to put the game out of reach in 72-65 with less than a minute to go. With Gamecocks forced to foul, UT was able to capitalize on free throws, obtaining a 75-67 victory.
Next: Lady Vols will hit the road again, traveling to No. 22/23 Georgia for a midday showdown on Sunday on the SEC Network.
“Re” rewriting log books: With her 24 points against South Carolina, senior Rennia Davis overtook Glory Johnson on the all-time artillery list, ranking 14th with 1,666 points. Her 12 rebounds also led her to overtake Dana Johnson for 15th place on the all-time rebound list, with 885. In addition, she recorded the 36th double-double of her career, drawing with Glory Johnson in fourth place of all. the times in the double doubles of the UT Lista career.
TK Going up: Tamari Key blocked five shots against South Carolina, moving her career total to 135 and placing her on UT’s career block list as just a second year. She overtook Isabelle Harrison (131) to tie Teresa Geter in ninth place among Lady Vols.
Horston Dishing: Sophomore Jordan Horston gave five assists against the USC without ever hitting the ball. In the last four games, she has given 19 assists by making just three turns, all against Texas A&M. His current career average of 4.5 apg. he would be ranked fourth among all times among Lady Vols.
Big wins: With the victory over No. 2/3 in South Carolina, Lady Vols defeated four ranked teams, the highest number of victories over ranked opponents since the 2017-18 season. The victory over No. 2 Gamecocks also represented the best-ranked opponent that a team coached by Kellie Harper defeated. While at NC State, his Wolfpack took down No. 5 Duke on March 2, 2012, 75-73.
What a return: Tennessee dropped 16 points in the second quarter to defeat South Carolina, marking the biggest comeback of the Harper era. UT came 13 down in the second quarter to defeat Ole Miss on January 28 and did the same against Missouri last season at the SEC tournament in Greenville, SC, on March 5, 2020. Tonight also featured the biggest return from UT as a program since Lady Vols eliminated a deficit of 20 points in the third quarter with Stetson on December 5, 2018.
Copyright 2021 WVLT. All rights reserved.