PALO ALTO, Calif. — The No. 23/24 Lady Vols suffered their second loss of the season at top-ranked Stanford on Wednesday night, falling in Maples Pavilion, 78-51.
Tennessee (8-2) was led by junior Rennia Davis, who finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Freshman Jordan Horston was UT’s second-highest scorer, posting nine points and five boards.
Junior Kiana Williams led Stanford (10-0), finishing the day with 19 points and seven assists. Sophomore Lexie Hull and freshman Ashten Pretchel were also in double figures for the Cardinal with 11 and 10, respectively.
The game started out as a back-and-forth affair with five lead changes and two ties in the opening minutes. Rennia Davis scored Tennessee’s first five points to lift UT to a 5-3 advantage two minutes into the game. Stanford bounced back, taking a three-point lead off a Francesca Belibi jumper at the 6:31 mark, but UT answered with back-to-back buckets from Horston and Davis to take a 12-10 lead into the media timeout. The Cardinal launched into a 10-0 run following the break, leading 20-12 at the end of the first after holding UT scoreless the final five minutes of the frame.
Neither team was able to get much going offensively to start the second quarter, with Kasiyahna Kushkituah scoring the lone point of the first two minutes off a free throw. Hull broke the drought for SU, knocking down a jumper to put Stanford up 22-13 with 7:59 to play in the quarter. Following a UT timeout, the Lady Vols scored five unanswered points to pull within five by the 5:17 mark. The Cardinal rallied with 5-0 run of its own, however, and the score stood at 30-20 with 3:35 remaining before the half. The teams traded baskets to close out the opening 20 minutes, and Tennessee went into the break down 10 at 34-24.
Jazmine Massengill was first on the board in the second half, hitting a layup to cut the deficit to eight just over a minute in. But Stanford was quick to answer, knocking down back-to-back threes to lead by 14 with five minutes left in the period. The 14-point lead would hold until the final minute and a half, when back-to-back threes would put the Cardinal up by 18 at 58-40 entering the final stanza.
Davis knocked down a three to give UT a spark midway through the fourth quarter, but Stanford kept its foot on the gas offensively, going 7-of-9 to close out the game.
Up Next: The Lady Vols will continue their West Coast swing, traveling to Portland State for a 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) tilt on Saturday at Viking Pavilion. The game will be available for streaming via Pluto TV Ch. 532 and will be broadcast by Lady Vol Network stations.
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