Playing without one of its best players, the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team dropped a Southeastern Conference road game against a ranked opponent Thursday night.
The No. 16 Lady Vols, playing without the highly decorated Rennia Davis, fell to No. 20 Kentucky, 71-56, at Rupp Arena.
Davis was out due to COVID-19 protocol and the Wildcats (14-5, 7-4 SEC) took advantage of her absence.
Kentucky, which lost to Tennessee, 70-53, on Jan. 24 at Thompson-Boling Arena, was trailing 47-46 before outscoring the Lady Vols (12-4, 6-2), 25-9, over the final 10 minutes of the contest.
The Wildcats had a slim 13-11 lead at the end of the first quarter before using a 24-15 run to open a 37-26 advantage at halftime.
After the break, UT was hot and outscored the Wildcats, 21-9, in the third stanza.
Tennessee’s Rennia Davis led all scorers with 22 points. Jordan Horston added 11 and Tamari Key finished with nine points for Tennessee.
Chasity Patterson scored 22 points to lead Kentucky and former Lady Vol Jazmine Massengill scored 11 for the Wildcats.