LAS VEGAS, Nevada – No. 11/10 Tennessee picked up its fifth straight win to start the 2021-22 campaign on Friday, defeating Kansas at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout in Las Vegas, 68-58.
Tennessee (5-0) was led by junior Jordan Horston, who turned in a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while graduate Keyen Green and sophomore Tess Darby each tallied 11, and graduate Jordan Walker added 10.
Holly Kersgieter was the top scorer for KU (4-1), knocking down a season-high 19 points and collecting eight rebounds.
Horston was the first to score, hitting a jumper 20 seconds into play to give the Lady Vols their first lead of the game. Kersgieter responded with two points for Kansas before Walker kicked off an 11-1 run that put Tennessee up 13-3 by the 3:08 mark. Zakiyah Franklin and Mia Vuksic hit back-to-back treys for the Jayhawks as KU closed out the period with an 8-0 run of its own to cut the deficit to 13-11 by the start of the second quarter.
Kansas continued the run in the next stanza, opening with four straight points to take its first lead of the game at 15-13 with 8:47 left in the half. Darby ended the UT drought, knocking down a 10-foot jumper to tie the score at 15-all by the 7:15 mark, and then giving Tennessee the lead with a three on the next possession. The Lady Vols built on that advantage through the 3:57 mark to lead 24-15 before Kansas answered with another set of threes to cut it to 24-21 with 2:41 to go before intermission. Sara Puckett answered with a second-chance layup, and the teams traded buckets through the end of the period to make the halftime score 28-25 in favor of the Big Orange.
Alexus Dye stretched the lead to 30-25 just 11 seconds into the third, but Kersgieter hit a bucket and got the steal on the next play to fuel a 4-0 Jayhawk run that made the score 30-29 by the 9:13 mark. Darby knocked down her third trey of the game 10 seconds later, setting off a 10-3 UT run that saw the Lady Vols up 40-32 by the media timeout. Horston found the basket following the break, expanding the lead to 42-34 before Franklin hit a layup to cut the deficit to single digits with 3:41 left in the period. Jackson and Vuksic combined for four points to pull the Jayhawks within four, but Walker answered with a jumper and a trey on back-to-back possession to put UT back on top by nine. Kersgieter nailed a jumper with 35 seconds remaining to make it a seven-point game, and UT got a couple looks in the closing seconds but couldn’t convert, sending the game into the final stanza with the Lady Vols leading 47-40.
Taiyanna Jackson kicked off the fourth with a layup to pull KU within five, but Green led an 8-0 UT run, scoring five of the eight points herself, to give the Lady Vols their largest lead of the night at 55-42 with 6:37 to play. The Jayhawks rallied back within five by the 3:20 mark off a 10-2 run, but the Lady Vols came back with three straight layups by Green, Puckett and Tamari Key while holding KU to a single free throw to take a 10-point lead with less than a minute to go in the game. Vuksic hit a trey with 44 seconds on the clock, but the Lady Vols were able to knock down free throws to take a 10-point victory in Vegas.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will be back in action in the Silver State at 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. PT) Saturday, squaring off with Oklahoma State. The contest will be available for streaming via FloHoops.
DOLING OUT LOSSES: Like the rest of UT’s opponents thus far, Kansas entered the match undefeated on the season. Tennessee’s opponents have faced UT with a combined record of 10-0 before all suffering their first loss of the season.
DARBY BREAKOUT: Sophomore Tess Darby tied her career high of eight points in the first half against Kansas, going on to score a career-best 11 points while shooting 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
BALANCED ATTACK: Four Lady Vols turned in double-digit scoring (Green, Darby, Horston, Walker) while six players managed eight or more points on the night.
HOT START HORSTON: Junior Jordan Horston followed up a career-high 28 points and 15 rebounds against #12/21 Texas with her third double-double of the season against Kansas, notching 14 points and 11 rebounds. She’s currently averaging a double-double on the season at 20.0 ppg. and 11.5 rpg. and has paced UT in scoring in each of the past four contests.
BATTLE OF THE BENCH: Tennessee’s bench turned in a season-best 21 points on the night, while KU only got 10 from its reserves. It’s the fourth time this season UT’s bench has outscored its opponents. Through five games, Tennessee is averaging 14.8 points off the bench per game.
-UT Athletics
