It had been only nine days shy of two years since the Lady Vols fell to Georgia in Athens. Since that time Coach Pat Summitt’s club has been on a tear of 30 straight regular season victories and two conference tournament titles. That’s 36 consecutive victories against SEC foes. But, on Thursday night in Lexington the Lady Vols fell just short against a scrappy 9th-ranked Kentucky squad.
The Lady Vols were down by as many as twelve late in the second half before storming back to take the lead. But down the final stretch UT was not able to execute on offense and could not overcome the monumentally pesky defense of the Lady Cats.
A’ dia Mathies put Kentucky ahead for the final time at 61-60 when she hit a tough running jumper in the lane to score two of her 34 points. On Tennessee’s final possession Kamiko Williams brought the ball down the court, but her 20-footer at the buzzer fell just short.
Senior Glory Johnson led the Lady Vols with 17, while fellow-senior Vicki Baugh added 16 on 7-of-8 shooting.
A frustrated Vicki Baugh spoke to the media after the game:
"We have yet to show a game for 40 minutes and that's the most frustrating thing about it. These games we should win. If we don't play for 40 minutes, we are not going to win. A lot of us just put on the jersey and think that's what it’s going to take, but it takes a lot more hard work on every possession."
The Lady Vols will return home to take on Vanderbilt at 2pm on Sunday.
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