KNOXVILLE – Tennessee women’s basketball coach Holly Warlick found a lineup that worked Thursday night, and she wasn’t going to go away from it unless she had to.
It seems she made a good choice.
After trailing Auburn by five at halftime, the Lady Volunteers regained the lead with a 14-3 run to start the third quarter and stifled the Tigers’ attack from that point forward to win 73-62 in front of 7,547 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Lady Vols (16-8, 5-6 Southeastern Conference), who have won four of their past five after a six-game losing streak, return to competition Sunday at Missouri. They completed a sweep of the season series against Auburn (18-7, 6-6), having beaten the Tigers 78-69 in the SEC opener for both on Jan. 3.
Warlick used her starters – Rennia Davis, Cheridene Green, Zaay Green, Meme Jackson and Evina Westbrook – almost exclusively in the second half, with only freshman guard Jazmine Massengill briefly spelling Jackson for an 86-second stretch in the fourth quarter. Jackson returned when Tennessee’s 13-point lead was cut to eight with 2:47 to play.