LOS ANGELES – No. 14/11 Tennessee had four players score in double figures, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with a No. 3/3 UCLA squad that shot 58.5 percent from the field and 59 percent beyond the arc to seize a 99-77 win at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.
The Lady Vols (5-2) were led by a career-high 25 points from senior Janiah Barker, who went three of seven beyond the arc in her return to the court where she played last season for the Bruins. Also scoring in double digits were senior Nya Robertson with 12, redshirt junior Talaysia Cooper with 11 and senior Zee Spearman with 10.
UCLA (8-1) was paced by Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice, who fired in 29 and 20 points, respectively, with Jaquez hitting five of six three-point attempts. Gianna Kneepkens had a 4-of-6 day beyond the arc to finish with 19, helping her team shoot 10 of 17 from long range on the day.
The Bruins jumped on top 3-0, but the Lady Vols jostled with them to move ahead 4-3 on a Barker put-back, 7-6 on a Cooper three and 10-8 on a Barker old-fashioned three-point play before the teams headed to the 5:00 media break knotted at 10. The hosts moved ahead by six, 18-12, at the 2:06 mark and by nine, 24-15, with 1:07 to go, but a three by Mia Pauldo and another by Barker pulled Tennessee back within five, 26-21 by the end of the quarter.
Barker stuck a trey to cut the gap to two to open the second stanza, but UCLA pushed its lead back to seven, 31-24, on a Rice layup with 7:50 remaining. Tennessee whittled at the deficit, getting a Jaida Civil three, a pair of Alyssa Latham free throws and a Deniya Prawl three to trim the margin to two, 36-34, with 5:55 to go. A Kaniya Boyd corner three propelled UT into the lead, 37-36, but a Jaquez jumper sent the Bruins into the 4:51 media timeout with a 38-37 edge. UCLA continued that momentum after the break, outscoring the Lady Vols 11-2 the rest of the way to take a 49-39 lead at the intermission.
Tennessee cut the deficit to eight three times early in the third period, including 53-45 on a pair of Barker free throws with 7:39 left, but UCLA answered each time and built its lead to 12, 57-45, forcing a Lady Vol timeout with 6:32 to go. The Bruins increased the lead to 15, 60-45, on a Kneepkens deep ball, but a pair of Robertson threes cut the margin to 13, 64-51, by the 4:51 media timeout. UCLA, though, outscored UT 7-2 out of the break, taking a 71-53 lead and forcing a timeout with 1:43 to go. After the Bruins hit two more buckets after that to extend their run to 11 and lead to 23, Robertson drained a three to trim the gap to 20 before the end of the quarter.
The Lady Vols refused to fold, using a 7-0 surge on a pair of Robertson free throws and layups from Barker and Prawl to trim the deficit to 13, 76-63, and force a UCLA timeout with 8:36 to go. A Prawl free throw completed the old-school three-point play to trim it to 12, 76-64, and a Cooper layup narrowed it to 10, 76-66, with 8:08 left. An 8-0 Bruin run in response to UT’s 10-0 burst, though, moved the hosts back in front by 18, 84-66, and the Big Orange could come no closer than 15 the rest of the way.
NEXT UP
Tennessee heads to Northern California for a 6:15 p.m. PT (9:15 p.m. ET) tilt at Stanford on Wednesday in Maples Pavilion. ESPN2 will televise that contest, which is part of the ACC/SEC Women’s Basketball Challenge. The game will be available on Lady Vol Radio Network stations and via live stream on UTSports.com.
SCORING BEYOND THE ARC
Tennessee hit 11 threes, marking the third time this season and the second game in a row they have hit 10 or more. Janiah Barker and Nya Robertson both led the Big Orange with three treys each. Robertson’s three deep balls marked the 41st time in her career that she had hit three or more, and Barker tied her career high for treys made set at the beginning of the season against NC State.
LEADING THE WAY
Janiah Barker was the leading scorer Sunday afternoon with a career-best 25 points. Her previous high of 24 came during her freshman year at Texas A&M against Georgia. It marked her second time as the Lady Vols’ leading scorer and seventh time with 20+ in her career. Barker scored 11 in the first quarter against UCLA, becoming the third Lady Vol this season to reach double figures during the span of a quarter. She joined Nya Robertson and Talaysia Cooper in accomplishing that feat.
