KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Lady Vols held off a scrappy ETSU team on Tuesday, taking a 67-50 victory in Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee (2-0) was led in scoring by Rae Burrell, who finished with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Rennia Davis and Jordan Horston were also in double figures with 15 and 12, respectively.
Jakhyia Davis was the high scorer for the Buccaneers (1-1), finishing with 11 points and six rebounds.
Marta Suárez scored the first points of the game on a driving layup, and Davis followed it up with a jumper to give the Lady Vols a quick 4-0 lead. ETSU rallied back, tying it up at 9-9 with three minutes remaining in the quarter off an old-fashioned 3-point play by E’Lease Stafford. Tennessee responded by closing out the half with a 9-2 run to lead 18-11 going into the second period.
Keyen Green knocked down a layup to extend UT’s lead to nine before Mykia Dowdell answered with a trey on the other end to put the score at 20-14 just a minute into the quarter. The teams traded baskets until Green knocked down another layup to kick off a 10-2 run spanning two and a half minutes that gave UT a 15-point lead with four minutes remaining in the half. The Lady Vols led by as many as 16, but the Buccaneers closed out the half on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 10 at the half, 38-28.
The Lady Vols came out hot in the second half with Davis nailing a jumper just seven seconds in to kick off a 10-point run, moving the score to 48-28 just over three minutes in and forcing the Buccaneers to call a timeout. Following the break, ETSU outscored UT 9-2 to scrap back within 13 by the 3:03 mark. Davis and Horston combined for five points in the last minute and a half to build Tennessee’s lead to 55-38 entering the final stanza.
Davis converted on a 3-point play to stretch UT’s lead back to 20 to start the fourth. Jakhyia Davis answered with a three for the Buccaneers before Burrell and Green scored on back-to-back possessions to give Tennessee its largest lead of the game at 21. ETSU pulled within 16 with just over five minutes left in the game before UT once again extended its lead to 21. The Buccaneers closed out the contest with four straight points to bring the final score to 67-50.
Next Up: The Lady Vols will travel to West Virginia for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Sunday. Tip time is at 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed on Big 12 Now/ESPN+.
Double-Digit Davis: Senior Rennia Davis totaled 15 points against ETSU, marking 30 straight games of double-digit scoring. Additionally, she has scored 10+ in 44 of her last 45 contests.
Big-Time Bench Points: With 23 bench points against ETSU, Tennessee’s bench has combined for 54 points through two games.
Playing Take Away: After recording 13 steals vs. Western Kentucky in the opener, the Lady Vols came away with 16 steals vs. ETSU, marking the highest total since grabbing 16 vs. Murray State on Dec. 28, 2018. UT only had double digits in steals twice the entire 2019-20 campaign, carding 12 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff and 15 vs. Air Force.
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-UT Athletics
