KNOXVILLE – Tennessee sophomore Rae Burrell scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and the 22nd-ranked Lady Volunteers zipped through their final tuneup before entering Southeastern Conference play by beating Howard 88-38 on Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee (10-2), which has won back-to-back games since falling at Stanford when the Cardinal were still ranked No. 1, hosts Missouri at 5 p.m. Thursday, then visits Kentucky three days later. Missouri (3-10) has lost four straight but hasn’t played since Dec. 20.
Burrell’s rebounds set a career high, and the double-double is her second at Tennessee. She also had two each in assists, blocks and steals against the Bison (8-5), who had won four straight games.
“I’ve just been really mindful of crashing the boards every time, trying to go get a rebound,” Burrell said in the postgame news conference. “So I’ll probably take that into SEC play as well.”
Jessie Rennie made five 3-pointers while scoring 16 points, both career highs, Rennia Davis also scored 16 points and Jordan Horston added 14 with six assists. Davis and Horston had eight rebounds apiece as Tennessee finished with a 59-42 advantage on the backboard.
The visitors from Washington, D.C., were led by Jayla Thornton’s nine points – they came 4-of-19 shooting, including 1-of-14 from 3-point range – and Makayla Minett’s nine rebounds.
The Lady Vols were never threatened, scoring nine straight points after a 2-2 tie and turning that into a 17-2 run. They also scored 12 straight points and put together a 20-2 run in the second quarter for a 44-14 lead at the break. The closest quarter was the third, when Tennessee outscored the Bison 16-15.
“I thought in the first half we had some really, really good offensive possessions,” Lady Vols coach Kellie Harper said in her news conference. “I mean, our spacing was good, our ball movement was good, the timing on drives, the timing on post passes – I thought we had some really good possessions that we can build on in that first half.
“Not so much in the third quarter, but again, maybe a little bit in the fourth quarter, you know, we were able to get some good offensive executed plays.”
In the first half, Howard was 0-for-13 from 3-point range, shot 18% overall from the field and was just 2-of-10 from the foul line. The Bison finished the game 19% from the field, 1-of-20 behind the arc and 13-of-28 on free throws.
Compiled by Marty Kirkland. Contact him at mkirkland@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478.