Rookies Shine As #17 Lady Vols Edge #11 Kentucky To Win Seventh Straight

Thursday, January 22

Knoxville, TN

6:30 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

14-3,6-0SEC

Kentucky

17-4,4-3SEC

Kentucky

Tennessee

Rookies Shine As #17 Lady Vols Edge #11 Kentucky To Win Seventh Straight

January 22, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights Deniya Prawl/Kim Caldwell/Mia Pauldo Presser Photo Gallery

By: Eric Trainer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- No. 17/17 Tennessee's freshman class combined for 38 points, and the Lady Vols held an SEC opponent below 60 points for the fourth time in five games, seizing a 60-58 victory over No. 11/12 Kentucky in front of a season-high crowd of 12,551 on Thursday night at Food City Center.

The Wildcats (17-4, 4-3 SEC) had the ball with a chance to tie or win it with eight seconds left in the game, but UT knocked the ball loose and forced a jump ball. With two seconds left, UK had alternate possession and another opportunity, but redshirt junior Talaysia Cooper forced UK's 21st turnover to end the threat and deliver the Big Orange (14-3, 6-0 SEC) its first back-to-back wins over ranked teams since the 2021-22 season and extend its winning streak to seven games.

Freshman guard Mia Pauldo continued her strong play since the calendar turned to December, firing in 21 points as the only Tennessee player to score in double figures. Fellow rookie guards Deniya Prawl and Jaida Civil offered Pauldo support, with Prawl contributing an SEC high of nine and Civil chipping in eight. Civil also led the squad in rebounds with nine and tied for the lead in assists with three, as the Lady Vols persevered without injured senior forward Janiah Barker, the team's second-leading scorer.

UK, which was without its star forward Teonni Key, was paced by three players scoring in double digits. Amelia Hassett tallied 16, while Jordan Obi produced a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double and Tonie Morgan added 13 points. UK's leading scorer, Clara Strack, was held to nine points, but she pulled down a game-best 15 boards.

The Lady Vols jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on an Alyssa Latham layup and a pair of free throws from Zee Spearman, but the Wildcats crept within one at 4-3 by the 4:52 media timeout as neither team could find its shooting touch. UT's freshmen established their presence for the rest of the defensive-dominated opening stanza, with Prawl and Civil scoring on driving layups right after the break and Prawl swishing a three from the top of the key to end the first frame with her team possessing an 11-7 edge.

A Cooper mid-range jumper pushed UT up 13-10 at the 9:31 mark, but Kentucky scored five straight points to take its first lead at 15-13 with 7:34 to go. A Cooper defensive rebound and pass ahead to Kaniya Boyd for a layup knotted things up at 15 before the teams went to a media timeout with 5:48 remaining in the second period. The Big Orange freshmen continued making a statement, scoring the remaining 14 points of the period, with buckets by Civil and Pauldo making it 19-15 with 4:00 to go and a Civil free throw and Pauldo trey building the gap to 23-17 with 3:04 remaining. UT twice extended the gap to nine, 27-18 on a Civil free throw and Pauldo trey, and 29-20 on a pair of Prawl charity tosses, before a Morgan layup supplied UK the half's final score to trim UT's advantage to seven, 29-22.

Kentucky struck first in the third quarter, using a 4-0 burst to trim the Tennessee margin to 29-26 with 7:42 remaining. The Lady Vols countered with a 7-0 punch, though, getting a driving layup from Pauldo, a Spearman three-ball and Prawl driving layup to zoom ahead by 10, 36-26, and force a Wildcats timeout with 5:56 to go. UK reciprocated with a 5-0 run to work its way back within five at 36-31, by the 4:52 media break. After a Pauldo steal and score put UT up, 38-32, with 3:17 to go, the Cats crept to within four, 38-36, at the 2:13 mark. A Nya Robertson trey lifted the Big Orange lead back to five, 41-36, with 1:51 left, but a free throw by UK's Morgan and three-pointer by Hassett with 39 seconds remaining sent the game to the fourth quarter with the home team clutching a 41-40 lead.

A transition jumper and then a three-ball by Cooper boosted Tennessee's lead back to six, 46-40, with 8:19 remaining, but Kentucky kept coming, taking a 49-48 lead on a Morgan jumper with 6:59 to go. UT's rookies sprung into action once more, with a Civil turnaround jumper and a pair of Pauldo free throws sending the Lady Vols into the 4:28 media timeout clutching a 54-51 advantage. After the Wildcats tied it up at 54 with a trio of Asia Boone free throws right after that break, a Spearman trey and a Pauldo pull-up jumper made it 59-54, sent the crowd into a frenzy and forced a Kentucky timeout with 2:52 remaining. The Cats got layups from Jordan Obi and Morgan to work within one, 59-58, with 1:56 to go, and Pauldo's one-of-two trip to the free throw line with 1:24 on the clock left UT clinging to a two-point lead it was held to protect with its defense.

NEXT UP
Tennessee returns to action on Monday night, as the Lady Vols travel to Oxford, Miss., to take on No. 18/18 Ole Miss (17-4, 4-2 SEC). The match-up is slated for 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. The game will be televised on ESPNU and carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming on UTSports.com and SiriusXM Radio (Ch. 106 or 190).

PRESSING DEFENSE
The Lady Vols were stiff defensively against the Wildcats, holding their fourth SEC opponent in the past five contests to fewer than 60 points. UT limited Kentucky to its second-lowest scoring effort all year with 58 points. Their low of 51 came vs. Alabama. UT's defense was strong all game, holding the Wildcats to their lowest first half output this season and tying the lowest half the Wildcats have had in either half this year. The seven points Tennessee surrendered in the first quarter marked its best opening frame effort in SEC play, and UK's 22 first-half points were only two away from the low of 20 it allowed vs. Arkansas in the second half as the lowest surrendered in either half during the current campaign.

MIA MAKING HER MARK
Mia Pauldo's 21 points paced UT for the second time this season, joining her effort of 26 at Mississippi State on Jan. 8. Pauldo has been on fire in SEC play, averaging 16 points per game over the six-game stretch. The freshman has been especially clutch in the fourth quarter of the past two games, scoring 10 against #21/21 Alabama and nine versus #11/12 UK. Pauldo now has scored over 10 points in 11 games this season and five of them have come during conference play.

TURNING THEM OVER
Tennessee has now hurried 11 opponents into 20+ turnovers on the season after forcing 21 against the Big Blue. The Lady Vols are causing an average of 21.59 miscues a game and rank in the top 25 nationally for turnovers forced per contest. UT also came up with 11 steals vs. UK, marking the 12th time the Big Orange has tallied 10 or more in 2025-26.

FRESHMEN CAME TO PLAY
A total of 38 of UT's points came from its highly-regarded freshman class in the win against Kentucky. Mia Pauldo, Deniya Prawl and Jaida Civil were the leading scorers for the Big Orange, and they started it with 21 of the Lady Vols' 29 first-half points. They finished with 38 of the team's 60.