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Lady Vols basketball was near a top-10 win for a second straight Sunday, however once more could not execute effectively sufficient down the stretch and suffered a fourth straight loss.
No. 21 Tennessee misplaced 100-93 to No. 9 Oklahoma at Lloyd Noble Center on Feb. 22 in Norman, Oklahoma, its seventh loss in 9 video games.
The Lady Vols (16-10, 8-6 SEC) have been enjoying their fourth sport in eight days, although they did look higher than of their prior two outings. Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell stated the “incredibly tough stretch” is a part of enjoying within the SEC.
“I think you just be honest, and they can handle it or not,” Caldwell stated in her postgame information convention. “And sometimes the honesty is not good, and sometimes the honesty is good. And tonight, honestly, our team was fun to coach.
“We positively made some basketball errors, however the those that have been on the ground performed laborious. They performed collectively.”
Talaysia Cooper led Tennessee with 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting, and had four assists, three rebounds and two steals in 31 minutes. Nya Robertson added 18 points on 4-for-9 shooting with three rebounds, two assists and a steal in 34 minutes.
Tennessee shot much better from 3-point range, knocking down 10 of 29. Oklahoma (21-6, 9-5) was 4-for-18, but made up the difference with 22 second-chance points and 36 made free throws.
Jaida Civil the best freshman on the floor
In a matchup that was set up for two of the top freshmen in the SEC to square off — Aaliyah Chavez and Mia Pauldo — Jaida Civil was the best freshman on the floor.
Civil was unstoppable when she got downhill, and she shot well from behind the arc, too. She made good decisions with the ball in her hands, took her open shots and was all over the boards.
The 6-foot guard had a career-high 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting with 10 rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers in 32 minutes. Civil also had only one foul in a high-foul game, which is something she has struggled with in the past.
“Jaida’s a canine,” Cooper said on Lady Vol Radio Network. ” . . . She does the little issues, like regardless of if she’s having a fantastic evening, she’s going to go on the market and do the small issues. She’s going to get stops on protection, she’s simply going to encourage. That’s the vitality we’d like from her each sport, and I advised her that, too.”
Chavez ended the game with 21 points on 5-for-13 shooting, four assists, three rebounds, four turnovers, two steals, and she fouled out with 27 seconds left in the game. Pauldo had five points on 1-for-6 shooting, one rebound, two turnovers and a steal in 10 minutes, and she also fouled out.
What Kim Caldwell said about Janiah Barker’s absence
Tennessee was without senior Janiah Barker, who did not travel with the team to Norman. The ESPN broadcast said Caldwell told them Barker “didn’t meet program expectations.”
“She did not meet workforce requirements, did not make the journey,” Caldwell said after the game. “We’ll repair it once we get again, she’s bought a brilliant future and she or he’ll be effective.”
The Lady Vols played well offensively without Barker, but they missed her defense inside and her rebounding as they got destroyed on the glass 47-34.
Barker’s absence comes after she scored a career-high 29 points in Tennessee’s loss to Texas A&M on Feb. 19. She has been a significant piece of the rotation, averaging 25.4 minutes in SEC play.
The 6-foot-4 forward has averaged 14.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals, shooting 46.9% from the field and 36.6% on 3.9 attempts from 3-point range.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support sturdy native journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
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