No. 22 Tennessee women use surge to defeat Vanderbilt 78-69

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rennia Davis scored 16 of her 22 points in the second half and No. 22 Tennessee shook off Vanderbilt in the fourth quarter for a 78-69 win on Thursday night.

The Lady Vols (17-4, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) have won six straight conference games.

Tennessee outscored Vanderbilt 16-8 in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter to take a double-digit lead for good and led by 14 after Kasiyahna Kushkituah’s basket with two minutes left.

Tennessee outscored Vanderbilt 19-2 to start the second quarter, led by nine points from Rae Burrell to take an 11-point lead. But the Commodores cut the deficit to five by halftime and held brief leads in the third quarter before going into the final period down four.

The Commodores (12-9, 2-6), who lost their fifth straight, shot only 38% but stayed close initially with their defense, making 10 steals and scoring 15 points off turnovers in the first half. After committing 13 turnovers in the first half, the Lady Vols had only four in the second.

Jazmine Massengill finished with 14 points and Jordan Horston and Burrell 11 each for Tennessee, which shot 52% from the field.

Koi Love led with Vanderbilt with 16 points. Kiara Pearl added 13, Chelsie Hall 12 and Jordyn Cambridge 10.