Cooper, Barker Combine For 35 Points To Lead #23/22 UT Past Auburn, 73-56

Sunday, January 4

Auburn, AL

4:00 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

10-3,2-0SEC

Auburn

11-5,0-2SEC

Tennessee

Auburn

Cooper, Barker Combine For 35 Points To Lead #23/22 UT Past Auburn, 73-56

January 04, 2026 | Women's Basketball

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By: Eric Trainer

AUBURN, Ala. – Redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper and senior forward Janiah Barker combined for 35 points on Sunday afternoon, leading No. 23/22 Tennessee past Auburn in SEC action, 73-56, at Neville Arena.

Cooper fired in a game-high 18 points, while Barker scored 17 and added a game-best eight rebounds as the Lady Vols (10-3, 2-0 SEC) won their third straight game and fifth time in the past six contests. Freshman guards Mya and Mia Pauldo finished with nine and eight points, respectively, with Mya leading UT's season-best 42.9-percent three-point shooting with 3-of-3 accuracy and Mia knocking down two of six.

Auburn (11-5, 0-2) was paced by Khady Leye, who tossed in 14 points and grabbed six boards.

Tennessee jumped out to an 11-4 lead by the 4:37 media break in the first stanza, shooting 66.7 percent during the early going to Auburn's 18.2 percent, with Cooper and Mia Pauldo knocking down threes to fuel the attack. Mia Pauldo added another trey at the 2:46 mark to make it 14-7, and then treys by Mya Pauldo and Cooper and a pair of free throws by Barker closed out a 22-9 Lady Vol first frame.

Back-to-back buckets by Barker pushed UT's advantage to 15, 28-13, with 7:43 left in the second quarter before Auburn began to whittle away at the deficit, cutting the gap to 29-22 with a 7-0 run into the 4:50 media timeout. The Lady Vols, though, responded immediately out of the break via a paint jumper and three-ball from Nya Robertson to make it 34-24 at the 3:07 mark. A layup by Cooper, another Mya Pauldo three and a fast-break layup by Zee Spearman via a dime from Mya Pauldo propelled the Big Orange to a 41-26 lead at the intermission. UT shot 56-percent over the opening 20 minutes, which was the best first half allowed by Auburn this season.

Auburn hit five of eight shots in the early stages of the third period and outscored Tennessee, 11-8, in the first five and a half minutes to trim the margin to 49-37 with 4:42 to go. Barker went to work to right the ship, though, scoring eight straight of her 11 in the quarter to enable UT to build a 57-37 lead with 1:57 remaining. While Tennessee held Auburn scoreless for a 4:26 stretch during the frame, the visitors from Rocky Top closed out the period with a Deniya Prawl layup and pair of Cooper free throws to carry a 61-38 advantage into the final quarter.

The Lady Vols and Tigers traded baskets at the outset of the fourth stanza, with a Jaida Civil three-pointer and a Cooper layup pushing Tennessee into the 4:53 media break with a 66-44 lead. Auburn closed out the game with an 11-7 edge, but the Big Orange had the final say on the day with Mya Pauldo's third three-pointer of the game ending things at 73-56.

NEXT UP
Tennessee plays its second straight on the road on Thursday, traveling to Starkville to take on Mississippi State. The Lady Vols and Bulldogs will meet at 6:30 p.m. CT (7:30 p.m. ET) at Humphrey Coliseum. The contest will be broadcast on SEC Network and carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming on UTSports.com.

LADY VOLS IN OPENERS/ROAD DEBUTS
With the win, the Lady Vols are now 35-9 all-time in their initial SEC road game of a season and have won their last six and 16 of their past 17. Tennessee is 4-2 when its first SEC road game of the season is played at Auburn.

COOPER THE HOOPER
Talaysia Cooper's twelfth time in double figures this season helped fuel the win over the Tigers. She leads the team in double-digit performances and now has 40 on her career. The guard also affected the game in other ways with her team-leading four assists and four steals. That's now 30 times in her two seasons at UT she has led the Big Orange in steals for a game.

JB TOOK OVER IN THE THIRD
Janiah Barker produced her second double-digit scoring effort in a quarter this season with 11 in the third frame. Barker last had 10+ over 10 minutes in her return to UCLA on Nov. 30, scoring eleven in the first period en route to 25 vs. the Bruins. Barker joins Talaysia Cooper, Nya Robertson and Mia Pauldo with double-figure efforts in a period this season.

SHOOTING IT WELL
Tennessee shot 51 percent (26-51) from the field for the game and 42.9 percent (9-21) from the three-point arc. The field goal accuracy by UT ranks second this season behind an effort of 54.5 vs. Winthrop, while the marksmanship from deep stands as the top showing of the year for the Big Orange, with the 38.1 vs. Winthrop ranking second. In the first half, the Lady Vols fired at a 55.6 clip, which was the highest percentage allowed by AU in a first half all season. UT's 73 points stands as the second-most allowed by the Tigers in 2025-26 as well.