#23/22 Lady Vols Fend Off Gators, 76-65, In SEC Opener

Thursday, January 1

Knoxville, TN

2:00 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

9-3,1-0SEC

Florida

12-4,0-1SEC

Florida

Tennessee

#23/22 Lady Vols Fend Off Gators, 76-65, In SEC Opener

January 01, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Alyssa Latham/Kim Caldwell/Talaysia Cooper Presser Highlights Photo Gallery

By: Eric Trainer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 23/22 Tennessee demonstrated resiliency on Thursday afternoon, grabbing a sizeable lead and then taking Florida's best punch before bouncing back and opening the SEC slate with a 76-65 win in front of 10,230 at Food City Center.

The Lady Vols (9-3, 1-0 SEC), who built a 17-point lead in the second quarter, saw that advantage disappear in the third frame as the Gators (12-4, 0-1 SEC) reversed the momentum during the middle two periods and seized a four-point lead. The Big Orange, though, responded by outscoring the visitors 30-15 the rest of the way to open conference play on a positive note and stay unbeaten at home in six outings this season.

Redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper led three Lady Vols in double figures, firing in 17 points. Senior forward Zee Spearman turned in a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Mia Pauldo chipped in 10 points, with eight of those coming at the free-throw line. Senior forward Janiah Barker hauled down 12 rebounds to help her team win the battle of the boards, 49-26, including 20-5 on the offensive end.

Florida's Liv McGill tossed in 32 points to lead all scorers, while teammate Jade Weathersby added 11.

A Cooper layup put Tennessee on the scoreboard first, and the Lady Vols got a 10-2 burst to erase a 5-2 Gator lead, fueled by five points from Alyssa Latham and a Nya Robertson three-pointer to send the home team into the 4:47 media break with a 12-7 lead. The Big Orange began to widen the gap, building the lead to seven twice on a pair of Spearman free throws, a Lauren Hurst layup and a pair of Cooper scores before a Robertson trey ended the first frame with her team holding a 22-12 advantage.

UT surged ahead by 17 on a 7-0 run at the outset of the second stanza, extending the advantage to 29-12 and forcing a UF timeout with 8:19 remaining after a put-back by Spearman, a Cooper three and a Barker layup. The reset was beneficial for the Gators, as after a Hurst three made it 32-15, Florida outscored the Lady Vols 15-5 the rest of the way to trim the margin to seven, 37-30, at the half.

Florida whittled at the Tennessee lead early in the third, but the Big Orange restored the margin to seven twice, including 42-35, on a Spearman reverse layup with 8:36 to go before the Gators used a 5-0 run to cut the lead to two, 42-40, by the 7:09 media timeout. Florida tied it up three times at 42, 44 and 46 before scoring four straight points to move ahead 50-46 with 3:34 left. Cooper responded with a pair of mid-range jumpers and a three-ball, and Kaniya Boyd hit a driving layup to tip the scales back in favor of UT, 55-50, with 1:41 on the clock before a McGill layup at the 1:24 mark sent the teams into the final quarter with the home team up, 55-52.

Florida shaved the margin to 55-54 on a Weathersby layup at the opening of the fourth, but Tennessee repelled the Gators with a Spearman old-fashioned three-point play and a Pauldo layup to restore the gap to four twice. A Spearman layup and Cooper layup on a behind-the-back pass from Pauldo pushed UT up six, 64-58, before a McGill layup narrowed the gap to four, 64-60, by the 4:34 media break. The Lady Vols responded out of the breather with an 8-0 blitz, getting sets of free throws from Barker and Pauldo, a layup from Barker and a layup from Spearman to push ahead 72-60 by the 2:42 mark. Pauldo hit four of her eight free throws on the day over the final two minutes to seal the victory.

NEXT UP
Tennessee will hit the road for its next two contests. The Lady Vols will begin that stretch by playing at Auburn at 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) on Sunday, Jan. 4, at Neville Arena. The contest will be broadcast on SEC Network and carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming on UTSports.com.

CAREER WIN FOR COACH
The 76-65 victory over the Gators was the 250th win for Head Coach Kim Caldwell. Caldwell is now 250-44 in her 10th year of coaching and 33-13 at Tennessee, including 19-4 at Food City Center in her second season leading the Lady Vols.

BIG ORANGE HISTORY ON NEW YEAR'S DAY
Tennessee opened SEC play on New Year's Day for the fourth time. The Lady Vols are still undefeated with a 4-0 record in Jan. 1 league games, including 3-0 at home and 1-0 on the road.

LADY VOLS IN SEC OPENERS
Tennessee is now 38-6 all-time in its first Southeastern Conference game of a season, including 20-3 at home and 18-3 on the road. After beating Florida, the Lady Vols have won their past 12 SEC openers, last losing a conference lid-lifter to LSU, 80-77, on Jan. 2, 2014. Head Coach Kim Caldwell moved to 2-0 in SEC openers in her second season on Rocky Top.

COOP LED THE WAY FOR UT
Talaysia Cooper paced UT in points for the fourth time this season and tallied her 11th game in double figures, checking in with 17 vs. the Gators. Cooper leads the team in double-digit performances for the year and now has 39 10+ efforts for her career. She hit seven straight points late in the third quarter to help the Lady Vols overcome a four-point deficit and forge a 53-50 lead.

MAKING HER PRESENCE KNOWN ON BOTH ENDS
The effort of 16 points and 10 rebounds marked Zee Spearman's second double-double in the past three games and the tenth of her career. The forward averages 7.7 rebounds per game, the highest average for the Lady Vols, and ranks third with 11.3 points per contest.

ANOTHER DOUBLE-FIGURE PERFORMANCE FOR MIA
Mia Pauldo recorded her fifth game in a row with 10+ points. Since December, the freshman has been on fire, averaging 14.2 points per game and 3.8 assists per contest. Pauldo's career total for double-digit performances is now up to seven in twelve games.