NEW YORK – No. 16/17 Louisville shot 50 percent in three out of four quarters on Saturday and No. 17/18 Tennessee could not keep pace in falling, 89-65, at the Shark Beauty Women’s Champions Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The Cardinals shot 49.3 percent for the game to the Lady Vols’ season-low 34.2 percent and broke open a five-point game at the half by outscoring UT, 48-29, over the final 20 minutes to improve to 12-3. The Big Orange (7-3) managed to force 20 U of L miscues but was only able to out-produce the Cards, 26-20, in points of turnovers.
Senior forward Zee Spearman paced Tennessee with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while redshirt junior Talaysia Cooper and freshman guard Mia Pauldo added 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Louisville featured six players scoring in double digits, led by Tajianna Roberts with 18 and Imari Berry with 15.
Alyssa Latham got Tennessee off to a nice start, hitting a layup on her team’s opening possession, but it was the only lead the Lady Vols would have during the opening stanza. After U of L built an 8-4 lead with 7:32 remaining, a Spearman three drew UT within one, 8-7, with 7:15 to go, and a Cooper equalizing trey sent the Big Orange into the 4:28 media timeout tied up at 10. UL twice pushed its lead to three, but a layup through contact by Janiah Barker, another Spearman three-ball and a driving layup by Nya Robertson closed out the opening stanza with the teams knotted at 17 despite Louisville out-shooting UT, 50 to 35 percent.
The Cardinals pushed ahead, 24-19, with 8:24 remaining in the second quarter, but Tennessee responded with an 8-0 run fueled by a pair of Pauldo free throws, an old-school three-point play from Kaniya Boyd and a Pauldo three to seize a 27-24 lead with 7:09 to go. Buckets by Berry and Laura Ziegler, though, sent UL into the 4:53 media timeout with a 29-27 edge. The Cardinals scored the first seven points out of the break and extended their run to 12, building a 36-27 lead with 3:24 left. After U of L moved back in front by nine again, 38-29, UT worked it back to six on a jumper from Spearman and a free throw from Barker. A pair of Cooper layups, the last one coming on a steal and score, trimmed the deficit to five by the half, 41-36.
Louisville twice built its lead to seven early in the third frame. Tennessee kept responding, though, getting a Spearman steal and layup, a Spearman bucket in the paint and another Pauldo three to even the proceedings at 48 with 5:46 remaining before the Cardinals took a 50-48 lead and asked for time with 5:10 to go. U of L ran the gap to nine again, 59-50, with 56 seconds left, and after a Cooper layup carved out the game’s biggest lead, 63-52, by the end of the period.
The Cardinals scored the first five points of the final stanza to extend the lead to 16, 68-52, and force a Tennessee timeout with 8:21 remaining. The hiatus did little to slow U of L’s momentum, as it fired at a game-best 55.6 percent over the final period and outscored the Lady Vols, 26-13, in that stanza to close out the win.
UP NEXT
The Lady Vols head home after Saturday’s game and begin preparing for a quick turnaround. Tennessee will play host to Southern Indiana at 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday at Food City Center. The contest will be broadcast on SECN+ and carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming on UTSports.com and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Chs. 106 or 190). The game will be the final contest of 2025 and the last non-conference game before Tennessee plays host to Florida in the SEC opener at 2 p.m. on Jan. 1 (SECN+).
DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR ZEE
Zee Spearman’s 18 points and 12 rebounds led to her first double-double of the season and the ninth in her career. Spearman paced the Lady Vols in points for the second time this season after she had 24 in a home win over ETSU on Nov. 7. The senior now has been in double figures six times this season and on four occasions in the past five games.
TURNING THEM OVER
The Lady Vols forced the Cardinals into 20 turnovers during the afternoon. Tennessee has forced eight of its last nine opponents into 20+ turnovers. Talaysia Cooper led the Big Orange with three steals on the day and now has 37 in 10 games for a 3.7 average.
CONSISTENT COOPER
After scoring 23 in UT’s last outing at the Shark Beauty Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn on Dec. 7, 2024, Talaysia Cooper was again in double figures with 14 on Saturday vs. Louisville. That marks the 38th time in her career she has scored 10+. Cooper is the only Lady Vol to have a double-digit point total in every game this season.
