The Tennessee Lady Vols celebrated a 72-63 win against EKU Sunday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena’s Food City Center. The win was especially sweet for Tennessee, as it put an end to a three-game losing streak.
The Lady Vols knocked EKU down to an 8-2 season record, climbing up to a 5-5 record of their own.
Tennessee Lady Vols Win At Home Against EKU
It wasn’t long before Tennessee found a groove against Eastern Kentucky. Sara Puckett found the basket for an easy layup a mere seven seconds in, and EKU finally answered with a layup of its own.
That was EKU’s only glance at a lead, however. Tennessee took the lead following a foul against Karoline Striplin and managed to maintain it the entire game.
EKU went on a five-point run early in the second quarter, only to be answered by a seven-point run from Tennessee a moment later. The Colonels outscored Tennessee by one point in both the second and third quarters, but that wasn’t enough for them to muster a lead. Although rebounding has been a consistent point of issue for Tennessee this season, they turned the stat on blast for this game, out-rebounding EKU 47-36 and leveraging those boards into extra points on the scoreboard.
The Lady Vols had created a double-digit lead by the middle of the fourth quarter, thanks to a pair of back-to-back three-pointers by Jewel Spear and Tess Darby. Tennessee managed to extend the lead to 70-57 before settling at a nine-point gap for the final score.
Karoline Striplin Leads Tennessee In Scoring (Again)
Junior forward Karoline Striplin led the team in scoring for yet another outing, logging 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists for the night. This marks her fifth venture as Tennessee’s top point contributor this season and her sixth game posting a double-digit score.
Striplin has appeared on the Lady Vols starting lineup the past two consecutive games, celebrating a career-high 29 points during the previous matchup against Middle Tennessee. Coach Kellie Harper discussed Striplin’s appearance in the starting five postgame saying:
“Well, obviously she’s been productive and Karoline works so hard. She’s one of the more fearless players on our team. I think she gives us versatility in that you’ve got to guard her from the 3-point line, but she can score in the paint. She posts up very strongly. She’s really hard to guard down there when she’s posting up. I think when you have that presence, it opens a lot of things up for everybody else, so I love that she’s being aggressive and playing with confidence.”
Striplin wasn’t the only Lady Vol to log double digits for the night. Jewel Spear had an especially productive night as well, adding 12 points to the scoreboard and contributing 7 rebounds and 1 assist.
EKU Scoring Drives Can’t Outpace Tennessee Rebounding
Antwainette Walker was a whirlwind presence on the court for EKU, scoring 24 points, along with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Walker would’ve put up even more points had it not been for Tamari Key, who logged her 300th block in the game prior. In addition to scoring five points during her five minutes on the court, Key also added three blocks to her career total – one of which was against Walker.
Walker wasn’t the only Colonels player in the double digits Sunday night. Jasmine McGinnis-Taylor added 10 points to the scoreboard and snagged 9 rebounds. And guard Alice Recanati logged 12 points, along with 4 rebounds, assists, and steals. Where Recanati struggled, however, was in the way of turnovers, accounting for half of the team’s 18 lost balls.
Tennessee turned 18 turnovers into 21 points. Fortunately, EKU wasn’t able to do the same, snagging only 16 points from Tennessee’s 22 turnovers.
The Lady Vols will spend the rest of the week deep in the throes of practice before returning to the court next Tuesday for a home game against Wofford. Grab tickets for the Dec. 19 matchup and join the Lady Vols for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff in the Food City Center.
