Jackson Earns First-Ever SEC Player of the Week Nod

For the first time in her illustrious career, Tennessee's Rickea Jackson has been named the Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week. She also added Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Week accolades for the initial occasion as well.

Spending her first three collegiate seasons at Mississippi State before transferring, Jackson was a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week honoree but never earned player of the week distinction.

Jackson was absolutely dominant in her first two games of the 2022-23 SEC schedule for UT, coming off the bench to propel the Lady Vols to a 2-0 start with victories at 11-2 Florida and at home against 12-2 Alabama.

For the week, the 6-foot-2 senior forward from Detroit averaged 25 points per game to lead the league in that category as well as field goal percentage at 74.1 percent through Sunday's games, hitting 20 of 27 attempts. She also ranks second in free throw percentage at 90.9 percent and is fifth in rebounds at 8.0 per contest.

Against Florida on Dec. 29 Jackson was electric in 26 reserve minutes, knocking down 10 of 13 shots from the field and eight of nine from the free throw line to finish with 28 points and nine boards as UT picked up its first road win of the campaign in the SEC opener.

Jackson's 11 points and six rebounds in the second quarter helped her squad turn a 15-14 deficit at the end of the first period into a 36-31 halftime lead. Her nine third-quarter points fueled a 20-15 Lady Vol surge in that frame to push the lead to 10 entering the final stanza. In the fourth period, she was perfect on one attempt from the field and four from the charity stripe, contributing a team-best six points and two boards as UT repeatedly staved off Gator comeback attempts to secure a 10-point win, 77-67.

Jackson put on another show for the fans at Thompson-Boling Arena on New Year's Day, again hitting a 2022-23 league-high 10 field goals in 14 shots to tally 22 points and lead her team to an 89-76, SEC home-opening victory. She also contributed seven rebounds and three assists as Tennessee won its third straight game and came out on top for the eighth time in the last 10 outings.

After a slow 1-for-4 shooting start in the first quarter, Jackson went nine for 10 from the field and two of two on free throws the rest of the way. Her 12 second-quarter points on 6-of-7 marksmanship helped lift the Lady Vols from a 21-20 lead after the first frame to a 47-31 advantage at the intermission. She added eight points and four boards in the second half on 3-for-3 and 2-for-2 shooting to help Tennessee turn back the Tide and improve the Big Orange to 10-6 overall and 2-0 in SEC play.

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