KNOXVILLE — Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt would have preferred less dramatics down the stretch Thursday, but she wasn’t complaining about the end result.
The Lady Volunteers needed a late run to eke out a 69-64 Southeastern Conference victory over Kentucky at Thompson-Boling Arena before an announced crowd of 12,640.
“Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to win a game when you don’t play well,” said Summitt, who has 995 career wins. “We did what we had to do to close out the game.”
Freshman Shekinna Stricklen led the Lady Vols (12-2, 1-0) with 18 points. Forward Glory Johnson added 14 points and Alicia Manning had 13.
With 5:10 left in regulation, the Wildcats (10-6, 0-1) led 58-54 following Brittany Edelen’s basket. But Tennessee responded with a 10-0 spurt capped by a 3-pointer from Manning to go up 64-58 with 1:59 left.
“We’ve got to put it together and be a 40-minute team,” said Manning, who was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. “That’s going to make us hard to beat.”
Despite being outrebounded 43-30, the Wildcats kept things close with an effective perimeter game, shooting 8-for-14 (57.1 percent) from 3-point range. Kentucky’s Carly Morrow from GPS in Chattanooga scored a team-high 16 points and was 4-for-5 on 3s.
“It’s always important to make shots, and when they’re 3-point shots, and when you make a few of those, it gives you a chance to win,” said Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell, who served as a graduate assistant under Summitt during the 1999-2000 season.
“We just hit some at key times.”
Morrow did in particular. Her fourth trey of the game tied the game at 44 with 13:47 left.
“I was just trying to do my job and knock down shots,” she said.
Edelen added 13 points with three 3s for the Wildcats
“When people play against us, they tend to play that way,” Summitt said. “I expected it. I expected them to come in and get some 3s.
“We identified the two that we thought could hurt us, and both of them hurt us.”
Trailing 35-27 at halftime, the Wildcats took the lead following a 12-2 spurt to begin the second half. The teams traded leads early in the first half until the Lady Vols went on an 8-0 run capped by Alyssia Brewer’s fastbreak layup that made it 28-20 with four minutes left.
Stricklen was perfect from beyond the arc on her first three attempts, scoring 12 points in the first half.
Tennessee visits No. 24 Vanderbilt on Sunday.
E-mail Will Woodbery at sports@timesfreepress.com
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